TRAIN passengers were left stunned when parts of a new bridge at Liverpool Street station came crashing down on the tracks – throwing rail services into chaos.

TRAIN passengers were left stunned last night when parts of a new bridge at Liverpool Street station came crashing down on the tracks - throwing rail services into chaos.

The mainline station was forced to close after the incident at about 7.15pm, causing major delays and commuters could face further disruption today.

Engineers were carrying out urgent repairs on the bridge last night amid safety fears over its structure.

The 800-tonne bridge was installed over the May Bank Holiday weekend at the start of the month.

Passengers on one train had to be escorted along the tracks by police officers back to the station after the problem emerged.

Andrew Tiffin, 35, who was travelling home from London to Colchester, said his train ground to a halt just out of the station under orders from British Transport Police officers.

“The decking of the steel frame (of the bridge) was dropping down on to the train track underneath it,” he said.

“There was quite a lot and stuff was still hanging from the bridge. I do not think anything hit our train - I think it had fallen off before.”

Passengers had to catch Tube trains to other stations to complete their journeys while Liverpool Street was completely closed down. Mainline services to East Anglia were starting at Stratford last night.

Peter Meades, spokesman for rail operator National Express East Anglia, said: “There is a problem with the bridge structure and engineers are on site checking the structure of the bridge and while they are doing that we cannot run in and out of the (Liverpool Street) station.

“There were reports of debris which is of concern. There is obviously going to be some delays and disruption but we are doing everything we can to run the best service from Stratford.”

He added he was not aware of any passengers injured by the falling debris or of damage to trains.