NORTHERN Spirit has blamed Railtrack for the severe disruption to its East Coast timetables.

It says there is no light at the end of the tunnel just yet.

For the past two weeks, passengers travelling with Northern Spirit between York and Newcastle have faced lengthy journeys, cancellations and an infrequent service.

But the operators claim that temporary timetables in operation are a necessity to meet Railtrack requirements.

Conflicting information given by the National Rail Inquiry Helpline and station staff has also led to anger and confusion.

Mr Howard Keal, spokesman for Northern Spirit, apologised to passengers for the delays and cancellations, but was unable to guarantee the return to a normal service in the near future.

He told the D&S Times: "There are temporary timetables operating between York and Newcastle with extended journey times as a result of speed restrictions imposed by Railtrack following the Hatfield crash.

"We will resume normal running when Railtrack restores the line speed."

Last week Northern Spirit had claimed that 95pc of all its trains were back to normal following flooding, a figure that some passengers and rail staff have disputed.

Mrs Ann Whittington, who works at the Whistle Stop refreshment kiosk at Northallerton station, warned passengers to check travel times before setting off.

She said: "Do not believe a word the timetables say. We have only had at best a two-hourly service for the past two weeks.

"Even the station staff do not know from one day to the next when the Northern Spirit service will run.

"On Monday a lady was left on the platform for over two hours after a train was cancelled without warning. Other passengers tell us about the same thing happening at other stations on this line."

Mr Keal said the company stood by its statement: "We operate 1,600 trains a day across our network and we are 95pc back to normal running.

"We apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced where temporary timetables are running or where alternative services are being provided."

Northern Spirit advised passengers using its service between York and Newcastle that the normal hourly service would be a two-hourly service until further notice.

It also advised passengers to add an extra 30 minutes to the total journey time between York and Newcastle.

l GNER East Coast main line trains are also affected.

A spokesman for the company said an hourly service was continuing between Newcastle and York and that journey times were taking much longer as a result of Railtrack speed restrictions.

The journey from Darlington to King's Cross is currently taking about 4hr 30min