Porirua train commuters have been stuck onboard for about three hours after an overhead wire snapped.

Passenger Geoffrey Weal was travelling into Wellington about 8am when a cable snapped on the line, falling on to the top of the train.

“We had power but we just weren’t able to move, so [we’ve] just been stuck here for three hours,” he told the Herald.

The husband of a woman who was trapped on the train told Stuff that passengers had been offered plastic bags to use as a toilet.

He said his wife was holding up well but shared his concerns for younger people who found themselves stuck on the train.

Weal said the line snapping was unremarkable, with no obvious sign of what had happened until the train slowly began slowing down and came to a stop.

A train from Porirua has been stuck for three hours after an overhead wire snapped and came down on top of it. 

While the electrical wire is on top of the train they could not move, he said.

“We’ve just been looking at the weather. Nothing else we can do but just watch videos on Youtube,” Weal said.

Being a Friday, there were fewer people on the train than usual, which was fortunate, he said.

“Everybody’s fairly, I think, quite patient. I just think people are just a bit tired and ready to get off the train.”

Work is being done to get a train going again after a wire snapped above it on a trip into Wellington. 

He praised the staff, who had been regularly providing updates and were “very good and professional”. 

Metlink has alerted passengers to delays on its services due to the overhead wire issue.