Suspicious item which brought rail chaos was not unexploded bomb.

A suspicious item which brought chaos to the South Wales rail network was not an unexploded bomb, Network Rail has said.

Services between Cardiff and Newport were delayed for hours, leaving scores of passengers forced to take replacement bus services because of the scare.

But rather than a potentially-deadly wartime relic, explosives experts determined the object was a type of excavation equipment, a Network Rail spokesman said.

All Arriva trains travelling between the two stops had been halted after the discovery was made at around 3.30pm by the tracks near Ebbw junction.