Overhead power line damage causes disruption for Lynn railway passengers

There was disruption to Great Northern’s train services on Sunday afternoon with passengers left waiting for several hours at King's Lynn due to overhead damage on the line.

A collapsed bridge then meant only one bus could be sent to Lynn to transport the stranded passengers during the early afternoon and evening.

Traveller David Kreikmeier said almost 200 passengers were waiting for the 3.26pm train to London from Lynn when an announcement said the train would be delayed due to problems with the overhead.

A few minutes later the passengers were told it was cancelled.

Mr Kreikmeier added that a bus was eventually organised at 4.45pm to accommodate two train loads of passengers.

He said: "The worst thing was the attitude of the staff at King's Lynn Station - when a number of us asked the woman and two men in the enquires office if they were trying to arrange buses for us, they replied they wouldn't be doing this as they didn't know what was wrong."

A witness said: “It was pretty chaotic down there. There were hordes of people milling around not being told what to do.”

A Great Northern spokesman said: “We regret that Sunday’s 15.26 service had to be cancelled when defective overhead power lines damaged a northbound train on the approach to King’s Lynn at 15:15, blocking the single track.

"Because of the short notice, the lengthy time required for Network Rail's engineers to diagnose the problem, and then for a rescue train to be arranged,station staff had little information to pass to passengers until later.

"Within 25 minutes our control centre had ordered several buses for affected passengers but unfortunately, because of a collapsed road bridge outside the depot, only one was able to reach King's Lynn during the afternoon and early evening.

"Station staff are not responsible for arranging buses.

"We appreciate that many passengers were subjected to considerable disruption and encourage all passengers affected by this incident to claim Delay Repay compensation.”