IT was originally meant to be launched last December. Then it was put back to May, and then September.

But today Grand Central - the new rail company promising non-stop trains from York to London - regretted to announce the service had been delayed once more, and was not now set to start until at least November.

Boss Ian Yeowart said continuing difficulties over the delivery of power cars and passenger carriages were to blame for the further postponement.

The delays came after the York-based company recently launched a radio and TV advertising campaign promoting the launch of the service.

Mr Yeowart said air-time had been booked in advance on the basis that the service would start by September, and it had been decided to let the advertisements run even though the trains were not running.

Grand Central intends to run three trains a day from Sunderland to London, stopping at stations including Thirsk and York. The York-London direct service will rival existing trains to the capital by the long-established York company, GNER.

It was originally scheduled for launch before last Christmas, but the company was unable to lease the trains that it wanted and the launch date was put back to May, only for it to be postponed again following delays to train refurbishment work.

Mr Yeowart, who was managing director until recently but is now development director, said in August that nearly everything was in place, and early in September he said he hoped things were on track to launch later in the month, despite delays in taking delivery of its first power car.

He said today that two power cars had now been delivered, with the remaining four set to be delivered at the rate of one per week for the next four weeks.

But the bigger problems concerned the passenger carriages, which were being converted from ones previously used along the West Coast Main Line. A total of 18 were needed, to provide a total of six carriages on each train.

He said conversion work, which included the removal of buffers, changes to the electrical systems, comprehensive checks for corrosion and an upgrade to 125 mph, had taken longer than planned.

He said the company was determined to ensure that its service was reliable before it started taking passengers. "It has got to be right," he said.

Asked how much the train from York to London would cost, he said two off-peak trains would cost £39 single and £64 return - more than had originally been planned - but the company was still assessing what to charge for a peak time train from York to the capital and for a peak time train back from London to York.