Commuters encountered an unusual obstacle this morning as their trains were held at Marden due to a cow on the line.

Services were able to get going again after a short while, with Southeastern quipping the animal had been mooved to the udder sign of the fence to be reunited with its herd.

The situation added to a torrid start to the week coming after the 7am Ashford to Victoria via Maidstone East service was cancelled due to technical faults.