Trains are returning to normal after a bridge strike this morning.

Services to and from Harwich were hit worst following the incident just after 5am.

Although trains are now running again there are residual delays.

The incident has affected a number of early morning train services, though most did not use mainline between Norwich and London.

However the 6.29am Ipswich to London Liverpool Street service was forced to start from Manningtree.

The bridge which was hit in Manningtree was the one carrying the railway over Station Road.

The road has been closed by police between the A137 and Riverside Avenue East because the vehicle which hit the bridge, a lorry, has overturned underneath it.

There is currently congestion to Bromley Corner.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service were alerted to the incident by an off-duty retained firefighter passing the scene.

The lorry had struck the bridge and then overturned. Trains were halted while engineers checked the bridge.

A single fire crew from Manningtree checked over the female lorry driver who was suffering shock but had managed to get out of the vehicle by the time they arrived.

They also worked to stem a fuel leak from the HGV and make the area safe.

An ambulance was called for the driver who was then left in the care of paramedics.

Meanwhile a train fault led to the 6.41am Lowestoft to Ipswich service being cancelled.

And the 5am Norwich to London Liverpool Street and 7.30am service in the opposite direction were both cancelled because of over running engineering works.

Both the 5.30am Norwich to London Liverpool Street and the 6.25am service from the capital to Norwich left 10 minutes late for the same reason.

In 2012, the top half of a double decker bus was ripped off when it struck another bridge in the town.