TRAIN passengers were facing delayed journeys last night after a railway embankment became unstable near Manningtree.

TRAIN passengers were facing delayed journeys last night after a railway embankment became unstable near Manningtree.

One line of the track between Colchester and Manningtree had to be closed after the problem was found at 11.30am yesterday.

A spokesman for Network Rail said yesterday: “Because of recent weather conditions we have been monitoring the railway embankments at Manningtree closely and imposed a 40mph speed restriction on the line the last week.

“However, some ground movement was detected earlier today so as a safety precaution we closed the London-bound line between Manningtree and Colchester at 11.58am.

“We are now operating single-line working on the line that is still open and there is currently an hourly service running in either direction.

“To stabilise the embankment we need to carry out some extensive groundworks including adjusting some of the overhead line stanchions on the embankment.”

He added: “This work is progressing well and we hope to have the line reopened for the first services tomorrow morning.

“We are working hard to put alternative arrangements in place to minimise disruption to passengers and to get the embankment repairs carried out as soon as possible.”

A spokeswoman for train operator One said yesterday: “There is not any danger to anyone and Network Rail is working to alleviate the problem.

“Nothing has actually slipped, the wet weather has caused it. There is single line access only which means that trains coming from London and trains coming from Norwich have got to use the same line. That is causing some disruption.”