Greater Anglia passengers stuck on broken down train

Passengers were eventually moved to a second train to be taken on to London

Commuters were stuck on a train for more than three hours when it broke down in London.

The 07:40 GMT Norwich to Liverpool Street service stopped at Forest Gate, near Stratford, at 09:30 and passengers were not transferred to another train to finish their journey until 12:30.

Greater Anglia said other lines had been disrupted by the broken down train, which is one of its new stock.

A passenger described the incident as a "bit of a palaver".

Jem Walters, from Norwich, said: "I didn't think it could be as bad as it has been but it just got worse.

"I think the laughable thing is people have come to expect it a bit now and have a laugh and a joke but it is not good when you have to write off a whole morning."

Barry Pilling, from Ashill in Norfolk, said: "Initially we were told they would possibly pull us in to Shenfield or Ilford, the train did actually turn up but because the one we are broken down on is one of Greater Anglia's new ones they couldn't couple up the rescue train so they have had to send another one for us to climb on board.

"So a bit of a palaver."

Staff helped passengers from the train and onto a second one to be taken to London

Earlier this month Greater Anglia said disruption to its service in December had been down to signalling problems rather than the performance or design of the new trains.

In the four weeks to 4 January, 54.9% of those services did not arrive at the station within 59 seconds of schedule, according to the operator's statistics.

Greater Anglia apologised to passengers for the "severe delay" and said there would be a full investigation.

It added the train manufacturer had dispatched engineers from Switzerland to assist with the reliability of the new trains.

Passengers arrived into Liverpool Street just before 15:00.

Greater Anglia has recently introduced a new fleet of trains