THOUSANDS of rail passengers have suffered nightmare journeys between Scotland and London after overhead lines were brought down on the east coast main line.
The route was not expected to reopen until later today after an almost mile-long stretch of power cabling came down at 10am yesterday, blocking all four tracks in Yorkshire.
Passengers, who were delayed for several hours, reported chaotic scenes
as they were transferred to buses between Darlington and York following the incident at Thirsk.
The incident is understood to have been caused by a train becoming entangled in the power cables because of a fault with the overhead lines.
No-one was injured in the incident, which involved the 8am London King's Cross-Edinburgh train, with some 170 passengers on board.
One passenger said: "The platform at York was jammed but there was no information about when trains would be leaving and staff did not seem to know what was going on."
National Express, which operates trains between Edinburgh and London, said the incident was the third of its type on the line in the last month.
A spokesman called on Network Rail, which is responsible for the line, to increase spending to avoid further incidents.
He said: "The overhead lines need fixing. They are not fit for purpose and come down all too frequently."
The spokesman admitted the incident had been "hugely inconvenient" for passengers, but said the replacement coach service had "worked well" and staff had assisted travellers at stations.
Network Rail declined to comment until it established the cause of the incident. A spokesman said: "It could be a problem with the overhead lines or with the way the train engaged with the lines."
The full article contains 290 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
