Railway services in Essex are facing significant disruption this weekend following a passenger train derailment in Wickford on Friday. A Greater Anglia service, carrying over 60 people from Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street, came off the tracks at approximately 14:12 BST.
Greater Anglia has indicated that the affected route is "unlikely" to reopen over the weekend, and disruption could extend into next week. Despite the incident, investigators and the East of England Ambulance Service confirmed that no one was injured.
The derailment has impacted routes between London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria, Wickford and Southminster, and the London-Braintree route. Services between Shenfield and Southend Victoria have been amended, with shuttle trains operating between Liverpool Street and Billericay, and between Southend Victoria and Hockley.
Rail replacement buses are running between Billericay and Hockley, and between Wickford and Southminster. Services between London Liverpool Street and Braintree have been cancelled, though the branch line between Witham and Braintree is operating normally. Other routes, including those to Hertford East, Stansted Airport, Clacton-on-Sea, Cambridge, Ipswich, and Norwich, are running as usual.
A Network Rail response team is on site conducting a full investigation and assessing the route's condition. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has also deployed inspectors to gather evidence.