Rail passengers using the east coast mainline have been advised to delay their journeys until Friday in the wake of major disruption to services.
The problems were caused by damage to overhead electric wires between Retford and Newark North Gate early on Thursday afternoon.
Services operated by Virgin Trains East Coast between Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Leeds and London Kings Cross have been affected, along with those run by Grand Central between Sunderland/Bradford and King’s Cross, and Hull Trains to London.
Further information about the disruption is available on the Network Rail website.
Virgin Trains has advised customers to avoid travelling and said that tickets would be valid on services on Friday.
#VTECUpdate Apologies again for the disruption today. Delays of over 30 minutes can be compensated here: https://t.co/PUDk5Lti6A
— Virgin Trains EC (@Virgin_TrainsEC) March 9, 2017
The delays meant that the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, was unable to reach Sunderland to appear on BBC1’s Question Time on Thursday night.
4 hour delay on train & flights full, so sorry to miss @bbcquestiontime. Jinxed! Won't have this problem when we renationalise the railways.
— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) March 9, 2017
It remains unclear whether Virgin services will operate as normal on Friday.
@ryantomlinson We haven't got a plan in place yet, Ryan. We're still trying to sort out the issues tonight. ^MS
— Virgin Trains EC (@Virgin_TrainsEC) March 9, 2017
The problems resulted in very lengthy journeys for some passengers on services from King’s Cross on Thursday.
Never heard of #retford. Seven hours Kings X-York later, wish I still hadn't. Echo the increased exasperation of @virgin_trainsEC driver.
— Sarah Mullen (@sj_mullen) March 9, 2017
After seven hours on the train getting here, feel like I'm being massively trolled by this hotel room poster. #retford pic.twitter.com/qNHjKo2iLf
— Sarah Mullen (@sj_mullen) March 9, 2017
Some passengers complained on Twitter that power lines on this section of the east coast mainline were often damaged.
@shenfieldpete Apologies for the disruption, Peter. We have a dedicated team of engineers who are carrying out targeted 1/2
— Network Rail (@networkrail) March 9, 2017
