RAILWAY bosses have apologised after passengers were left stranded for hours ahead of the bank holiday weekend.

Essex train operator Greater Anglia says services couldn’t run on both of its main lines on Thursday evening because of “damage to overhead line equipment”.

The damage to power cables near Stansted Mountfitchet and Manor Park stations was caused by high winds, the train company said.

Network Rail engineers worked overnight to repair the damage, though some routes couldn’t run on Friday morning.

Greater Anglia told passengers the social media platform X that the work to repair the damaged wires at Stansted Mountfitchet was completed just before 11am on Friday.

Passenger Daniel Palmer and his fiancée Emma spent more than five hours trying to get to their home in Brightlingsea from Liverpool Street after spending the night at a gig in London.

“I got to London at about 6pm and I got a notification at about 8pm saying there would be disruption for the rest of the day, but it wasn’t clear what the disruption would be,” he said.

“When I got back to Liverpool Street at about 10.30pm, all the timetable boards said trains were cancelled. We were given an alternative of getting the Elizabeth line to Shenfield, but after waiting for ten minutes we found out those trains were cancelled too.”

Harwich and Manningtree Standard: Daniel and Emma were stranded at Liverpool Street on Thursday eveningDaniel and Emma were stranded at Liverpool Street on Thursday evening (Image: Nick Ansell/PA Archive/PA Images)

The couple were left waiting “for three hours with no updates” before being offered a taxi to Colchester station at about 2am.

Daniel added: “We had to lift share with people getting dropped off at Chelmsford and then we were the only people taken on to Colchester. We ended up getting back to Brightlingsea just after 4am.”

Greater Anglia has now apologised to passengers who faced delays.

A spokesman said: “Due to damage caused by high winds to the overhead wires, services between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport were heavily disrupted [on Thursday night].

“Service has now resumed, but customers should plan ahead and check before they travel.”

Passengers impacted by the delays can request refunds by visiting the Greater Anglia website.