TRAIN services up and down the East Coast Main Line could be hit for up to five years following the Hatfield and Great Heck crashes, the Evening Press has learned.
The accidents - neither of which can be blamed on York-based train operator GNER - has left the company two trains short, leaving certain summer services suffering.
But a quick announcement on the new franchise for the route would ease the situation, freeing the company to place its order with Fiat for £15 million tilting trains and allowing it to lease more Eurostar trains to increase capacity to the pre-Hatfield level of 125 trains per day.
When the East Coast Main Line was electrified in 1991, 31 trains were purpose-built to run on the line - two of them have now been destroyed and the usual rolling repairs mean GNER cannot operate at full capacity. It takes, on average, three years to build a train.
Services from London to Newcastle are normally extended up to Edinburgh in the summer, but this may not be possible because of the shortage. There may also be "one or two" services missing from the summer timetables for York passengers.
Leased Eurostar trains cannot plug the gap, as they are only authorised to run up to York.
"The sooner the franchise decision is made, the sooner we can get on with the business of long-term planning," said GNER spokesman David Mallender.
"We want to be able to sign a contract on the tilting trains as soon as possible so we can gear ourselves up for the increase in passenger numbers."
Delay by the Strategic Rail Authority and the Government has already left York passengers without sub-90 minute journeys to London, as a manufacturing slot was missed for the revolutionary tilting trains.
Mr Mallender said: "We need a decision. It has been a difficult few months and our staff and passengers need to hear the good news that we have the 20-year extension as soon as possible."
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Updated: 11:20 Saturday, March 10, 2001
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