Rail passengers were left stranded after a problem on the line between Spalding and Peterborough on Sunday.
Replacement buses had to be called to complete journeys and passengers heading to London from Hull took around seven hours to complete their journey.
Virgin said it had been a challenging day with a broken-down train near Spalding causing major delays on the east coast route.
The company said customers were entitled to a refund if they were delayed for more than an hour.
Train passengers heading to the capital from Hull on the 2.26pm service were delayed by a combination of engineering works and the broken-down train.
One passenger, on the social media site Twitter, described it as the ‘worst journey of his life.’
The service had already been expected to be delayed because of planned engineering works.
But the problems were compounded when the train, which had been over-crowded, was stuck behind the locomotive just outside Spalding.
It is believed there was also a medical emergency on board the train which had broken-down and a vehicle sent to move it also broke down.
“Worst journey in 25 years of travel,” tweeted passenger Steve Chambers.
The service had been due to arrive in London at 6.12pm but eventually pulled into King’s Cross station at 9.05pm.
Passenger Aaron Flanagan tweeted: “Latest announcement: bar/shop forced to close because literally every bit of stock has been eaten/drank. That’s how long we’ve been on here.”
