Page last updated at 20:38 GMT, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 21:38 UK

Trains halted over bridge safety

Liverpool Street bridge
The new bridge was inched into place earlier this month.

Train services at Liverpool Street station have been suspended while structural engineers inspect a new bridge which has partially collapsed.

The 1,300-tonne bridge had been inched across existing railway tracks using hydraulic rams, as part of the East London Line extension into Shoreditch.

About 300 passengers on three trains stopped before entering the station had to walk along tracks to Bethnal Green.

Trains to Stansted Airport, Cambridge, Southend and Norwich are affected.

Services on the line will now begin and end at Tottenham Hale and Stratford.

Justin Drerup, who lives close to the tracks, said his flat suddenly shook and cracks appeared in the plaster.

"I looked out of my window and could see the bridge was no longer sitting level," he said. A spokesman for Network Rail said engineers from Transport for London, which had commissioned the new bridge from contractors, was inspecting the structure.

It was not known how long the delays would continue.

No-one was hurt in the incident.




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