RAIL services are back to normal this afternoon after morning commuters faced major delays on the main line to London due to a broken down freight train at Marks Tey.

RAIL services are back to normal this afternoon after morning commuters faced major delays on the main line to London due to a broken down freight train at Marks Tey.

A spokeswoman for National Express East Anglia said the company was expecting to run a full evening timetable.

Passengers faced delays of up to 80 minutes this morning after a freight train suffered a fault at about 5.30am.

It meant services could not pass in either direction, leaving some travellers with long waits on trains before they reached their destinations.

Trains between Norwich and Liverpool Street Station were reduced to an hourly service as a result, while others were subject to short notice alterations and cancellations.

At Ipswich station, early morning passengers were frustrated with yet more delays after overrunning engineering work caused chaos twice already this year.

Aaron Eaton said: “It's not every day but it does happen quite a lot - so much so that you get used to delays after a while.

“I'm going to be late for work but it is not unexpected. It seems to be getting worse.”

Senthil Kumar said: “I'm frustrated and I'm going to be late. I travel regularly and it often happens. It seemed to be alright in February but the problems have come back and it is very frustrating.”

And Christine Hall added: “I hope I'll be on time because I left leeway because you never know when delays will happen.

“I tend to use my car but I'm going in to central London so I thought the train would be better.”

A spokeswoman for National Express East Anglia said things were back to normal by 1.35pm - after Network Rail also fixed problems with an overhead power line in the Main Park area.

She said that passengers inconvenienced for more than 30 minutes would also be able to claim compensation for delayed journeys.

She said added: “We apologise to anyone that has been affected by the delays. It has been very frustrating because there have been some complications in the freight company trying to move the train.

“Network Rail finished working on an overhead line problem at 1.35pm and things were back to normal very quickly after that. As a result we are expecting to run a full evening peak service.”

Anyone seeking compensation can contact the customer service centre via www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com or by ringing 0845 6007245.