One of the UK’s busiest railway lines is blocked after a train hit an object on the track.

South Western Railway (SWR) said it is unable to run any services between Woking and London Waterloo.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “At around 5.50am this morning, a South Western Railway train travelling towards London Waterloo struck an object in the Walton-on-Thames area.

“No-one was injured and all passengers were safely escorted from the train; however, the lines through the area are currently blocked while we investigate.

“Early investigations show the front wheels of the train are derailed, therefore it’s likely to take us some time to get the railway reopened.

“We’re really sorry for the disruption and will update customers on the repairs and timescale for reopening as we know more.”

The train that hit an object was one of the first to travel through the area after Network Rail carried out maintenance work on the line over the weekend.

It has not been confirmed whether the object was involved in this work.

Services are expected to be disrupted for the rest of the day.

It comes a day after rail fares across England and Wales rose by nearly 5%.