THERE was major disruption on the railway line between Bournemouth and London last night due to a "track defect".

South West Trains said a section of track was damaged and required repairs, leaving the firm "unable to run trains from Basingstoke to Southampton".


Problems with signalling along the route had been reported earlier in the day.

However, the company said its engineers working to correct these issues had "identified a fault that needs urgent repairs".

Passengers were stranded at stations along the route, including Brockenhurst.

Replacement bus services were put in place to ferry passengers to their destinations.

An update tweeted by South West Trains after 2am said track repairs were complete and normal service had been resumed.

This morning, the 7.20am service from Poole to London Waterloo was started from Bournemouth. 

South West Trains said the service would not be calling at Poole, Parkstone or Branksome due to "urgent repairs on the railway".

It is not clear how long the repairs will be carried out.

More follows.