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Southeastern trains cancelled between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells

There was travel chaos on the roads and rails this morning as hundreds queued due to cancelled trains.

There were long delays following the suspension of services between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge.

Elsewhere, on the roads, drivers faced gridlock on the M25 in both directions at junction 2 of the A2 for Darenth Interchange.

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Hundreds queue for buses at Tunbridge Wells station. Picture: @Hudders06 on Twitter
Hundreds queue for buses at Tunbridge Wells station. Picture: @Hudders06 on Twitter

Drivers were stuck for hours due to faulty traffic lights.

Southeastern said the rail disruption, which lasted until about 1.30pm, was due to emergency engineering works.

A shuttle bus service ran between the two stations but passengers complained that not enough buses were provided.

Hundreds of people were waiting outside Tunbridge Wells station with one commuter claiming to have been waiting for an hour and a half.

Angry commuters took to Twitter to accuse the train company of failing to provide enough rail replacement buses for the number of passengers.

The company responded by tweeting that it had hired "as many (buses) as local operators have available to hire out to us" later adding that "bus and coach companies do not necessarily have lots of spare vehicles and drivers just sitting around".

A Southeastern spokesman said: "Network Rail made us aware first thing this morning that we would not be able to run our services between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge because they needed to complete emergency engineering work.

Tonbridge Railway Station. Stock picture.
Tonbridge Railway Station. Stock picture.

“We immediately requested buses from local suppliers, but as this was short notice many were already booked for the school run and less were available than we requested.

"We continued through the morning to arrange for more buses from further afield but suppliers had to get through rush hour traffic to get to our stations.

"Any passengers delayed by 30 minutes or more are entitled to claim Delay Repay compensation and we would urge them to please do so.”

A Network Rail spokesman apologised for the disruption.

He said: "Network Rail would like to apologise to all passengers on the Tonbridge to Hastings line, who endured a dreadful journey to work this morning.

"An engineering train damaged a crucial piece of railway equipment in the early hours, which meant that no trains were able to run between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells in either direction.

"We aim to have the equipment, a set of points, rebuilt by lunchtime today."

The set of points allows trains to cross from one track to another and was located at Somerhill Tunnel, just outside Tonbridge.

The Southeastern spokesman said this morning: "Because of emergency engineering works taking place in the High Brooms area trains are unable to run between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells in either direction.

"We are running a train service between Hastings and Tunbridge Wells and a bus shuttle service between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge in both directions.

"Southeastern ticket holders are able to use Southern services via any reasonable route into London and London Underground terminus stations."

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