DELAYS on the East Coast Mainline - caused by a broken down train between Darlington and York - are expected to continue until 3pm.

York-based train operator LNER said congestion in the York area had now subsided and trains were returning to normal, but delays of up to 40 minutes could still be expected, along with cancellations and revised services, adding: "This is expected to continue until 15:00."

A spokesman told The Press:“A fault on a train between Darlington and York earlier this morning caused some delays to services.

"We have lifted ticket restrictions at York for customers travelling to London King’s Cross and we have ticket acceptance in place with CrossCountry via any reasonable route to help customers as services return to normal.”

He added that the company also had a 'small issue' this morning which prevented some of customers from using its website, but this was was quickly resolved.

He said customers might be eligible for the 'LNER Seat Guarantee scheme' - full details are online at lner.co.uk/seatguarantee. 

Passengers have said they are suffering delays, standing-room only and 'hot trains' on the route and one man said there was 'absolute pandemonium’ at York railway station in the late morning.

A York resident said he had gone to pick up a relative from a train from Durham, which was an hour and a half late in."It's an absolute nightmare at the station," he said.

A passenger tweeted there was a disgraceful service on the 1000 from London to Aberdeen, adding: "Standing room only, double-booked seat reservations and elderly people sat on the floor, or forced to stand. Also - a lot of people upset at the crush in ticket hall with staff anonymous."

Another tweeted: " Hot, overcrowded train and no air con,' while a third tweeted: "LNER really hot on the heavily delayed 1026 to York....will we ever get there or melt first?"

Another passenger said they were lucky and got a seat on the 12.00, adding: "Standing room only now, not great on such a hot day,' while another said: 'Blitz spirit alive and well as we crawl to #Scotland.'

LNER tweeted earlier that, due to a fault on a train between Darlington and Northallerton, the southbound line was blocked, and trains running through these stations may be delayed up to 30 minutes, adding: "The 'Thunderbird' rescue loco is en-route to assist the 06:30 Newcastle to KingsCross."

It also tweeted that it was also experiencing disruption to services due to a fault on a train between Wakefield and Doncaster, and also due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge near Hitchin.