Over-running engineering work was blamed by Greater Anglia for causing chaos for rail commuters in Ipswich this morning.

A number of services to London Liverpool Street, Cambridge, Norwich and Felixstowe were cancelled or heavily delayed at short notice from 6am onwards.

Commuters have spoken of their frustration, calling on Greater Anglia to invest more in the service to rectify the “poor show”.

The train operator has said all lines have now re-opened and services have returned to normal following “earlier over-running engineering works between Ipswich and Stowmarket”.

Disruption at the station continued until around 10am, with only minor delays reported afterwards.

Earlier, East Midlands Trains and First Capital Connect services stepped in as replacement services, while First Bus Group accepted train tickets on journeys to Woodbridge, Felixstowe and Stowmarket.

An Abellio Greater Anglia spokesman said: “We apologise to passengers inconvenienced by the severe disruption which affected some of our services this morning. The delays and cancellations were caused by over-running engineering work in the Ipswich area. We were able to re-introduce the normal timetable from 06.30 onwards, but there were consequential delays until 10am.

“The team at Network Rail have assured us that they are taking all appropriate actions to prevent a repetition of this morning’s problems - including better project oversight; improved resource management; more robust contingency planning and the earliest possible advice of any problems which do occur.”