THOUSANDS of frustrated commuters were left stranded after bank holiday engineering works overran for the second time this year.

Work at Shenfield station, on the line from Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street, should have been finished by Easter Monday.

But Network Rail, which is responsible for track maintenance, did not get the job done on time and rush-hour commuters faced severe delays and confused information as they tried to get to work yesterday morning.

Bus replacement services ran from Billericay station, but frustrated commuters complained they were running only every half hour.

The fiasco follows the overrunning of engineering work in the New Year, when Liverpool Street station remained closed for a day longer than planned.

Network Rail was recently fined a record £14million for that incident.

Commuter Tina Webb, 25, of Kestrel Grove, Rayleigh, was one of the many people who suffered long delays on the line, which is operated by National Express East Anglia.

She said: "They told us there wouldn't be any more problems, after all the delays at New Year.

"It's frustrating more than anything. The train prices keep going up, but the service doesn't improve."

Rayleigh MP Mark Francois was also quick to voice his disappointment.

He said: "Yet again, Network Rail seem to have mucked this up.

"Many of my constituents are getting thoroughly fed up with them and so is their MP.

"They simply have to raise their game and do better than this."

By the early afternoon, National Express was running a normal off-peak service, with extra stops at three stations in East London, where Tubes were not running. The delays sparked a war of words between National Express and Network Rail.

The rail operator criticised Network Rail for overrunning on the work and accused it of releasing a misleading statement to the media about the cause of the disruption.

But a Network Rail spokeswoman, who refused to be named, said the works were completed on time and a subsequent signalling problem was found at Shenfield.

National Express managing director, Andrew Chivers, said: "We apologise to our customers affected by the delays.

"We know how frustrating this disruption will have been.

"We had a number of buses available as a contingency for any overrunning engineering work.

"However, the scale of the problems was only communicated to us in the early hours, making it extremely difficult to put alternative arrangements in place. After the New Year overruns, Network Rail gave us assurances our customers would not face problems following the Easter engineering work.

"Once again, we have been let down and this inconvenience for our customers has been unacceptable."

National Express said it was now seeking an urgent meeting with the Government's Office of Rail Regulation to discuss the incident.

The Network Rail spokesman said it had been modernising the track around Shenfield as part of a £6million project to make it less noisy and to run better.

She added: "Repairs were completed by 8.40am, but of course there were subsequent delays."

l Customers seeking compensation should call the National Express Customer Services Centre on 0845 6007245 or e-mail nxea.customer services@nationalexpress.com

A spokesman for National Express East Anglia issued the following statement: "National Express East Anglia today apologised to its customers for the disrupted journeys they suffered this morning and reacted to Network Rail's failure to return the railway back to normal service following the Easter engineering works.

"Morning rail services to and from Liverpool Street were affected by severe delays and many people had to cancel their journeys or take alternative routes to London.

"Contrary to a Network Rail media statement, National Express understands that the problems were directly related to the work being carried out over Easter and the planning work that should have been put in place in advance.

"National Express is now seeking an urgent meeting with the Office of Rail Regulation to discuss this incident and any action that needs to be taken.

"Andrew Chivers, Managing Director of National Express East Anglia said: 'We apologise to our customers affected by the delays this morning.

'We know how frustrating this disruption will have been. We had a number of buses available as a contingency for any overrunning engineering work.

'However, the scale of the problems was only communicated to us in the early hours of this morning, making it extremely difficult to put alternative arrangements in place.

'After the New Year overruns, Network Rail gave us assurances that our customers would not face problems following the Easter engineering work.

'We robustly challenged Network Rail about their engineering work plans prior to Easter and we were assured everything that needed to be done had been done.

'Once again, we have been let down and this morning's inconvenience for our customers has been unacceptable.

'We will now seek urgent discussions with Network Rail and the Rail Regulator to get to the bottom of this incident and ensure that whatever corrective action is necessary is taken without delay'."

"Customers who wish to seek compensation should contact the National Express East Anglia Customer Services Centre in Norwich on 0845 600 7245. We will endeavour to respond to such requests as quickly as possible.

"The revised service currently in operation with extended journey times and reduced services between Norwich, Ipswich, Harwich, Colchester, Braintree, Chelmsford, Southend and Shenfield into London is expected to continue for the rest of today."

One passenger, who did not wish to be named, said they were told at Rayleigh Station that there would be no replacement buses.

An announcement reportedly said: "You might as well all go home."

Rail operator National Express East Anglia apologised to customers, who faced delays of at least 60 minutes.

National Express tickets are being accepted on c2c.

About 300 people reportedly waited for the replacement bus outside Billericay station alone.

By the early afternoon, National Express was running a normal off-peak service with extra stops at three stations in east London.