Daily Echo reporter Maxwell Kusi-Obodum reports from the scene of migrant chaos in Calais

People are being removed from the tracks, the operator said, as it informed passengers of delays.

Police were called to the site at Calais in France, where passengers cross to the UK, after disruption was first reported just before 9pm.

And Daily Echo reporter Maxwell Kusi-Obodum was caught up in the chaos after his train was delayed after a man was spotted on the tracks.

Here he reveals a glimpse into the mayhem taking place on a daily basis:

WE realised something was wrong when our train ground to a halt in the dark approaching the Channel Tunnel.

The carriages of train 9059 from Paris mysteriously slowed to a stop around 10.30pm French time outside Calais Frethun station beside platforms surrounded with tall metal fences capped with barbed wire.

The scenes on this side of the channel at London St Pancras

I was returning to London St Pancras from a press trip to France organised by a Hampshire-based PR company with three other journalists and we were stuck for nearly five hours.

Tired passengers began grumbling about delayed journeys but when security guards and a soldier in army camouflage started scurrying along the platforms we knew something more serious was happening.

The overhead announcement crackled to life and a woman announced the train was stopping because of “persons on the track” between Calais and the Channel Tunnel and the whole carriage erupted into controversial conversations about migrants.

The female guard walking the length of the train was approached by flustered and angry passengers asking what was happening – but despite desperate attempts on her radio she was unable to get more information from the control room.

Within an hour she told us we were switching to emergency power and the air conditioning and some of the lights were switched off – leading to stifling temperatures in the carriages and the toilets beginning to smell.

We were told not to attempt to open the doors as it could cause a security risk with trespassers reportedly climbing onto the roof of a train ahead of us.

Bottles of water were handed out at the dining car along with some soft drinks.

A handful of sweltering and furious passengers shouted angrily at the guard demanding to open the doors because temperatures were rising and they needed fresh air.

After two hours the driver was further conserving the train’s batteries by turning off all the lights and a couple of passengers helped her place glowsticks strategically in the carriages and vestibules before the train was plunged darkness lit only by eerie dayglow, platform lights and illuminations from mobile phones and tablets of people checking the internet and social media for information.

Two troops, one with a machine gun, continued to slowly pace the platforms and a helicopter briefly hovered overhead which we heard was checking the rooves of trains in the area.

Many people kept their camaraderie up by chatting amongst themselves and gathering in the dining car to sip drinks – but there was tension in the carriages with people getting more exhausted and angry.

The guard was doing all she could frantically pacing up and down the train and eagerly talking into her radio.

More than an hour later the lights came back on again but the tension remained with rumours of the train having to return to Paris.

Eventually the guard announced we would be moving soon after another train backed up alongside us and the way was clear.

We got moving again around 1.30am and there was a cheer as we emerged from the tunnel back into Britain and again as we pulled into London St Pancras at 2.30am.

But it was far from the end of the journey with exhausted passengers having to wait in long bustling queues for taxis and hotels at the station.

Chocolate bars, crisps and bottles of water being handed out by Eurostar staff were of cold comfort after the nightmare journey.

But despite the inconveniences of our night it was nothing compared to the plight of the hundreds of migrants stuck outside Budapest and the desperate situation people find themselves in risking their lives to enter this country.

Many of the passengers spoke about their sympathy for the migrants and how more needs to be done to help those fleeing war and persecution in their home countries.