27/01/2017 Look East

Thousands of rail commuters were caught up in rush-hour chaos

today as the region's main line into London was once again hit

The trouble began last night when a train brought down overhead

Greater Anglia asked passengers not to travel,

but no replacement bus services were laid on.

Disruption continued through the day but tonight a normal

Once again disruption, delays and cancellations on the line

between London Liverpool Street and Norwich.

Greater Anglia issued a do not travel notice.

Commuters were angry vented their frustration on social media.

If you look at the morning peak service on the Great Eastern

mainline, we run a very many trains, lots of long trains that effectively

carry between 20,000 and 25,000 people down that corridor.

To actually carry that same number of people with coach and buses

would take somewhere in the region of around 400 coaches or buses,

and there simply aren't that amount of coaches and buses available

to hire, and particularly not that short notice.

A small number of buses were laid on the totally between Witham

I understand that they can't possibly get 15,000,

20,000 people in the peak rush into London by bus,

but to have no contingency, no buses whatsoever.

The reality is some people can say, yes, I can take the day off,

I can work form home, but a lot of people can't,

The problem started late last night at around 10.00pm.

A train caused damage to a new section of the overhead power

The damage initially was at Ingatestone and it

carried on all the way through to Chelmsford,

so obviously that affects the whole line in the sense that

because we need to switch the power off to do the repairs,

for our guys to safely do that, that means the whole line has

The problem was fixed at eight o'clock this morning and a full

Fears of further damage to the overhead cables forced

the temporary closure of one of the two lines.

I thought they had been fixed, but I think it was just my luck

to get it when they needed more repairs.

The train I was initially booked on was cancelled and 40 minutes

The train drivers were not fully informed of what was going

on and were doing their best to help us.

After the day of disruption Greater Anglia say that trains

Meanwhile Network Rail said today that it won't be able to start work

on upgrading the Ely rail junction until 2020 at the earliest.

Campaigners had been hoping that the work could begin in 2019,

but officials told a rail summit today that the project was complex

Enlarging the junction will allow more services

to run between Kings Lynn, Norwich and Cambridge.

There's more evidence tonight of the serious

The Queen Elizabeth in King's Lynn has declared

an Internal Critical Incident and can't accept any more patients

because too many beds are occupied by people who are medically fit

Also in Norfolk a family has contacted Look East to tell us that

an elderly woman was denied her wish to die at home because

the right sort of care couldn't be found for her.

Extra medical and nursing support has been brought in as the hospital

Up to a dozen extra beds are available to help ease pressures

This is on a background of an increasing number of patients

coming to the department week-upon-week, and a large number

of patients in the hospital at the moment who are medically fit

for discharge but with very limited social care capacity

The so-called bed blocking issue is central to the hospital's problems.

Meanwhile this man has submitted a formal complaint to the Norfolk

The problem, getting it to release his mother

so she could come back to the family home.

Phyllis was admitted to the hospital last October with a chest infection.

The family say they rejected suggestions she should not be

They made it very clear that she wanted to die at home.

In December they were told she was dying and a fast-track

So many people get put in a home and die.

I promised her she would never be put in a home.

I wanted to be a family and I wanted my mum,

when she came to the end of her life, to be with us,

and the hospital just made it so difficult for us

The family say they arranged for a local care company

When I phoned the hospital back and said, I can find carers,

they are quite happy to give us the number

they said, they cannot deal with them because they are not

And if you use them yourself you won't be funded.

The Norfolk and Norwich told us its teams worked tirelessly

Due to the shortage of suitable carers in certain areas

like North Norfolk it can, at times, take longer than it

The family want an apology from the hospital, devastated

they could not deliver on Phyllis's last wish.

Back here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital the critical incident

But I'm told the hospital remains under intense pressure and it's

appealed to people with minor ailments to consider other options

The Queen received a warm welcome today from crowds

She was visiting the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich to view

One of the items on display had been presented to her when she visited

Coming up next, the weather with Julie.

I feel clear intervals overnight but a lot of cloud and outbreaks of

light and patchy rain. Not as cold as last night with lows of two or

three. Proudly start to tomorrow with rain times. Do I interludes but

it won't be as chilly as the last couple of days. We finished the day

on a largely cloudy note with rain at times. The cloud will break for

most of us after dark. In a moment the National forecast but I leave

you with the outlook. On Sunday another cloudy day with outbreaks of

rain. Question mark Good evening. Not many would argue

that January hasn't been dry, but today, many of us had our first

significant rain for some time, because the transition is on from

cold, Continental dry air to milder Atlantic air, but the transition is

a slow one. So we have had ice today, and freezing fog, in northern

England. We had a little sunshine as well in Norfolk, but we still have

the cold air around and about in the north. All this rain you can see,

which is giving is a wet day in some areas, 10-15 millimetres of rain has

fallen, as it comes north there could be some winter it issues. Snow

already falling over Scotland, possibly over northern England,

possibly some sleet over lower areas and fog. Not particularly nice, and

some icy conditions to contend with late in the night across Northern

Ireland, as the rain clears away. Again, a word of warning there could

be some ice around in the morning if you are heading out, in fact this

evening