Trains grind to a halt after signals fail

HUNDREDS of passengers were left stranded on trains yesterday after a signal failure on one of the country's busiest railway lines.

Five passenger trains and five freight trains were brought to a standstill due to a problem in the York area at around 1pm yesterday, Network Rail said.

A computer system that operates the signals turned all lights to red and halted services on the busy East Coast Main Line between York and Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

Many services between Glasgow and Edinburgh and London were delayed or cancelled as a result of the signalling problem.

Passengers were stuck on board their trains for several hours. In some cases, travellers were eventually allowed to leave the trains and walked alongside the tracks to the nearest level crossing.

The affected train companies included Cross-Country, East Coast, First Trans Pennine Express, Grand Central and Northern Rail.

The rail network operator said a temporary fix to get the ten immobile trains moving out of the problem area was implemented at 6.45pm.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said there were "quite severe problems" with the system yesterday and apologised for the delays.

A reduced number of trains were operating between London and Leeds, London and York, and Newcastle and Edinburgh last night.

Passengers are being asked to check the operators' websites for updates before travelling.