Rail misery for passengers

RAILWAY passengers on the East Coast Main Line faced a full day of misery yesterday – amid warnings of further potential problems today.

Travellers suffered delays of up to two hours due to problems with a section of the overhead wires between Huntingdon and Peterborough which triggered delays from the early hours yesterday.

The delays continued throughout the day, leaving passengers to face lengthy diversions and bus transfers while work on the fault went on. Services between Leeds and London were among those worst hit, with trains numbers cut by nearly half.

East Coast advised passengers not to travel if they could avoid it or use alternative routes.

Network Rail said the problems appeared to have started with one train’s faulty pantograph – the jointed framework which takes power from overhead lines.

It caused a complicated pattern of damage which was still being sorted out last night. Four tracks were reduced to two, so some trains could go through as normal, but even they were delayed, and the problems multiplied. It was expected that services would be back to normal today but passengers were being advised to check before travelling.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said final repairs were due to be carried out overnight and it was expected that travel would be back to normal from 6am today.

“That is our aim and our hope. But there will be some very early services still affected.”

Travellers are advised to check the latest position at www.nationalrail.co.uk or call 0871 200 4950.