Commuters experienced severe delays across the Greater Anglia network last night after a person was struck by a train at Ingatestone station.

The incident caused long delays for commuters travelling to and from London, with a number of services cancelled.

British Transport Police received a call at 4.35pm yesterday afternoon (September 21) to reports that a person had been struck by a train.

Officers attended alongside paramedics. Sadly the person was pronounced dead at the scene.

BTP say the incident is currently being treated as non-suspicious.

Officers are carrying out enquiries to establish the nature of the incident.

The incident caused severe disruption to the rail network with witnesses reporting that London Liverpool Street Station was actually closed due to overcrowding.

Rhia Hopley, 21, whose train from Liverpool Street station to Billericay was delayed by 35 minutes, said: "All the trains were cancelled and all the boards were blank. 

"The staff didn't really know what was going on and lots of people had to divert to Shenfield."

"It was absolutely hammered, like the station was rammed."

Cancellations and delays continued throughout the rest of the evening.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: “We were called at 4.46pm yesterday (21st September) to Ingatestone Railway Station in Essex to a report of a person being hit by a train.
"Two ambulance crews, two rapid response vehicles, an ambulance officer, our Hazardous Area Response team (HART) and the air ambulance from Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) were dispatched to help. 
"Despite their best efforts, the patient sadly died at the scene.

"Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this time.”

A Greater Anglia spokesman said: “Rail services were disrupted on the Great Eastern Mainline on Thursday 21 September owing to a person being hit by a train near Ingatestone. The incident happened around 4.15pm.

“The line from London to Norwich was closed while the air ambulance and police were in attendance, and there were delays of up to 70 minutes. The line reopened at 6.15pm and train services were back to normal by 8.15pm. 

“All the last trains ran and we put on extra stops at Ingatestone and Shenfield. We ran buses from Witham, on the Braintree line, and from Ipswich and Norwich.

“We apologise for the disruption and encourage anyone affected to claim delay repay compensation via our website.”