A blaze next to the railway line in Trowbridge caused delays for hundreds of rail commuters on Wednesday evening, with many stuck on hot and crowded trains.

The line towards Westbury was blocked as trains had to wait until the fire was put out, causing delays to trains between Bath Spa and Westbury.

The first train to be affected was stuck on the track a couple of hundred metres from Trowbridge station for 45 minutes.

Debbie Burchill, who works in Bath as an insurance claims advisor, was travelling home to Trowbridge when the train stopped at about 5.45pm.

She said: “We were on an old train. The windows were open but there was no air conditioning. Everybody had a seat but they were all hot, fed up and flapping anything they had to keep cool. I was glad I had some water.”

Chris Walker, who works in Bristol as an HM Revenue and Customs investigator, was on the 5.15pm train from Bristol which was stopped at Bradford on Avon station for 20 minutes, until the line re-opened at 6.30pm.

Mr Walker, who cycles from his Devizes home to Trowbridge station, said: “They opened the doors so everyone could get off. They provided plenty of information, which is unusual. A fire is a fire; not much you can do. It is no one’s fault.”

The fire spread from the track side to the other side of the cycle path behind the Seymour estate. No homes were affected and no-one was hurt.

Two crews from Trowbridge Fire Station used two main jets and spent 30 minutes dousing the flames.

It is not known how it started, and anyone with information can call Wiltshire Police on 101.

A spokesman for First Great Western said: “Trains could not go past the fire so we returned the units back to the nearest station.

“We moved the main line trains to different tracks.”