Delays and cancellations were caused when a scooter was thrown onto railway tracks causing “extreme arcing” lighting up the sky at St Denys Station on Monday evening. 'Read more' to see a video.

It happened about 8.25pm, with fire services arriving “within minutes”.

South Western Railway update: Due to an obstruction on the track at St Denys trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Eastleigh. Open https://t.co/gN68Pcu9ZA in Safari for the FREE App Clip

— Train Beacon Augmented Reality ??? (@TrainBeacon) February 28, 2022

South Western Railway tweeted last night that they’d been “made aware of an object being thrown onto the tracks … which resulted in ... extreme arcing.”

Local resident Ben Quextal said: "Sky just lit up bright orange and lots of banging and fizzing sounds... big electrical fire coming from the tracks in the station. Lasted for a good 30 seconds or so of massive arcing and fireworks. Apparently some kid threw a scooter on the live rail. The rail was glowing red hot for some minutes afterwards."

An SWR spokesperson said on Tuesday: “Yesterday evening, trains were disrupted in the Southampton area due to an obstruction on the railway. Delays and cancellations continued to the end of service whilst the railway was inspected and a temporary repair took place.

“Train services have been able to resume this morning, although a temporary speed restriction is in place which may cause some minor delays in the area. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.”

The Daily Echo reported that “enquiries into this incident are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact BTP [British Transport Police] by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 512 of 28/02/22”.

Updated 1/3/22 2.30pm with Ben Quextal quote