A man quoting passages from the Bible prompted fellow passengers on a rush-hour train to force open the doors and climb onto the tracks, causing long delays.

Police said the rail power lines were cut as passengers 'self-evacuated' the Shepperton-Waterloo train as it waited outside Wimbledon at 8:30am. Some trains were cancelled or delayed up to an hour and service through the area was disrupted until lunch time as a result.

The incident was narrated by a fellow passenger, Ian, over Twitter: 'Held up on a train to Waterloo, some nutter starts reciting verses of the Bible, causes a crush and a panic as people fear for their lives'

'He recited lines about homosexuality and sex outside marriage being a sin.

'Some idiot woman is outside the train saying to the guard the guy said he had a bomb and was going to kill us all. Said nothing of the sort.

'Guard comes to our carriage, a woman said that he said nothing like that and that he was talking about the Lord. Guard says they're coming to get him off the train, they might have to evacuate the train.'

The man was escorted off the train and his bag searched, which contained only a few books and a drinks bottle.

Nevertheless, Ian praised the guard's 'compassion, restraint and bravery'.

British Transport Police report that no arrests have been made and no one was injured during the incident.