EAST Coast main line services were expected to be severely affected through the North-East after a freight train derailment today.

Several wagons on an empty freight train heading from the Drax power station, in South Yorkshire, to Thornton, in Scotland, came off the rails heading north over the King Edward Bridge, over the River Tyne, a few hundred yards south of Newcastle Central Station, shortly after 6.40am.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said no-one was injured and engineers were quickly on the scene, with an accident investigation launched to discover the cause.

The Rail Accident Investigation Board was also informed of the incident.

Speaking shortly after 9am, the spokeswoman said: "Services in and out of Newcastle will be severely affected for the rest of the day, unfortunately.

"Services from the South will be terminating at York, Darlington or Durham, and from the North will be turning round at Newcastle.

"We are working on it as quickly as we can, but we have no estimate as to service restoration, as yet."

As King Edward Bridge was out of use, the closure will effect Trans-Pennine Express, Virgin Rail and GNER services between Darlington and Newcastle.

A bus replacement service was put in place for passengers on services heading between Newcastle and Darlington.