Cambridge railway station has now reopened following an earlier evacuation due to the discovery of what was believed to be a wartime bomb.

Workmen operating outside the station called police at 8.45am this morning (January 27) after digging up the object, which was 6 inches long and the width of a board marker pen.

A 200 metre cordon was put in place, and nearby offices were also evacuated as firearms officers from Cambridgeshire Police and bomb disposal experts investigated.

On inspection, the object was found to be an old wartime bullet, which was removed by 9.36am and the cordon was lifted at 9.45am.

The evacuation caused major disruption for commuters with trains unable to run to, from, and through the station while the incident took place.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police said: “We were called at about 8.45am this morning with reports of workmen digging up the ground outside Cambridge train station discovering what they believed to be an unexploded bomb/shell.

“Officers were deployed, the train station was evacuated and a 200m cordon was put in place. The object was found to be an old wartime bullet and the cordon was lifted at 9.45am.

“The situation was then handed over to British Transport Police.”

A spokeswoman for Abellio Greater Anglia said: “All services are now back to normal. There were some disruptions to services on the Liverpool Street to Cambridge line, with services only running as far as Whittlesford and on the Ipswich to Cambridge line only going as far as Dullingham.

“But the problems lasted less than an hour and the station was reopened by 9.40am.”