MORE than 1,700 extra seats a day will be available for rail passengers travelling with GNER next year.

The operator has signed a deal with Angel Trains to lease ten carriages to provide additional seating on the East Coast Main Line.

Mark 3 carriages, transferred from another part of the rail network, are due to enter passenger service with GNER from the start of the winter 2003 timetable.

Each of GNER's nine diesel high-speed trains will be lengthened by an extra standard coach, with one carriage added to a newly-leased train used as maintenance back-up.

GNER chief executive Christopher Garnett said: "The additional seats provided on this busy route will go some way to easing over-crowding, especially during the morning and evening peaks."