Commuters have reacted angrily to the chaos caused by dozens of Greater Anglia train cancellations.

Commuters made late for work have expressed their frustration at the cancellations and lack of information.

Lesley Johnson, who works as a legal PA in London, said: “I got the 6.29 from here, which they didn’t say was going to be terminated, got halfway to Manningtree and then they said this train would be stopped in Colchester, which it did, and we got sent back.

“They were apparently telling them here that the 6.50 might run, but they already knew it wasn’t going past Colchester so as usual you get awful announcements, it’s rubbish.

“I’ve no idea what’s going on, none whatsoever.

“I don’t think I could be polite about Greater Anglia this morning, because the announcements are just rubbish… we have not been kept informed.”

Louise, who works in the media in London, said: “I’m potentially quite annoyed… no one seems to know anything, no one is saying anything, there’s no announcements, there’s no signage, I’m going to have to queue up and ask somebody I suppose.”

Jasper Mayhew, 28, who works in telecoms, had been at Ipswich railway station since 6.30am and waited on his train for an hour before he was asked to get off as it had been cancelled.

“At the moment I find this quite frustrating to be honest, I’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” he said. “This is the worst it’s been for me, I’ve experienced delays but not as bad as this, this is the worst that I’ve experienced.”

All lines are now open through Chelmsford as engineers have repaired earlier signalling problems.

Normal service is expected by mid-afternoon and Greater Anglia have said they hope to provide rush hour service as normal.

A spokesman for Network Rail said the signalling problems in the Chelmsford area were probably caused by a technical fault - engineers have ruled out cable theft.

Greater Anglia is remaining in touch with Network Rail about the problems on the line.

The rail company is working to keep passengers informed of the situation, but has urged anyone planning to travel to London today to delay their journey if at all possible.

Commuter diary reporter Anita Curtis said: “The major problem at times like this is that nobody seems to know what to do. You are told various different options ranging from ‘no trains going anywhere’ to ‘catch that one over there it is going through’.

“This time I made the right decision, although while we were on the train we kept being told different things. I understand it was the first train to actually get through so you can imagine how packed it was as it stopped at every station to Shenfield. Eventually it arrived an hour late, but I’m sure I was one of the lucky ones.

“Let’s hope things improve by tonight!”

According to the Greater Anglia website the latest trains to be cancelled are:

15:10 Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street due 16:11;

15:13 London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria due 16:14;

15:30 Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street due 16:28.