Thousands of Britons have woken up to travel chaos after a "line-side fire" broke out between Chelmsford and Ingatestone just hours before a person was struck by a train on the same line.
The commuter town of Chelmsford, where 8,500 people travel into London for work every day, was left at a standstill this morning as queues gathered at the station’s London-bound Platform One.
Stations further along the Greater Anglia line have also been impacted, with regular commuting hotspots going as far back as Colchester and Ipswich.
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Greater Anglia staff had been heard advising commuters at Chelmsford to make the 10-mile drive up the A12 to Shenfield as services were delayed until further notice.
However, one regular commuter expressed his dismay at the advice, adding: "There's hardly any parking at Shenfield."
Another Chelmsfordian told a fellow commuter: "The trains are all f**ked. There's been a fire on the line."
The 5.41am train from Chelmsford to London Liverpool Street was delayed without any advice on when normal service will resume.
The train, which stopped at Chelmsford for more than 20 minutes, was eventually redirected back to Clacton-on-Sea.
Commuters gathered on Platform One at Chelmsford this morning
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Despite Chelmsford Station's departure board not showing any time for when to expect services to resume, a member of staff told a pair of commuters: "The Trainline app might suggest the next train is running on time but you'll need to drive to Shenfield to get the train."
Greater Anglia's live disruption map suggests that commuters from Braintree, Witham, Chelmsford and Ingatestone were also facing severe delays due to the blaze.
In an update on social media, Greater Anglia confirmed that a number of services face major disruption this morning.
"A line-side fire between Chelmsford and Ingatestone is causing disruption to journeys between Chelmsford and Shenfield," Greater Anglia said.
The screen did not tell commuters how long to expect delays for
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"Trains running between these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised."
Greater Anglia confirmed services had resumed shortly before 7am this morning.
The Trainline app suggested that the first service was resumed at 6.51am.
The service, which was scheduled to depart from Chelmsford half-an-hour earlier at 6.18am, will arrive at Stratford at 7.13am.
The line is expected to experience severe delays until at least 7am
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In an update, Greater Anglia apologised for any inconvenience caused and said that "multiple line-side" fires had been reported between Chelmsford and Ingatestone.
However, commuters from Essex and the rest of East Anglia were given less than an hour to make their way into the capital.
A severe disruption warning is now impacting every station between London Liverpool Street and Ipswich after a person was struck by a train just before 8am.
Greater Anglia said: "Regrettably, due to a person hit by a train between Colchester and Chelmsford, services will be disrupted.
Chelmsford is Essex's busiest train station
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"Train services running through these stations will be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until further notice."
The train operating company also confirmed that First Essex Buses will now accept tickets for the 300 between Chelmsford and Billericay, 351 between Chelmsford and Brentwood and the 71 between Colchester and Chelmsford.
Chelmsford is the biggest commuter-based train station in Essex, snatching the crown from Shenfield with 6.5 million journeys made last year.
An additional 780,000 travellers head into London from the leafy village of Ingatestone.
However, thousands more commuters will likely be impacted by the delays.
Almost 2.8 million journeys are made every year from stations faced delays earlier this morning after a set of "line-side fires" broke out, including 1.7 million from Witham alone.
A further 7.7 million journeys are made every year from Ipswich, Manningtree, Colchester, Marks Tey and Kelvedon.