HUNDREDS of rail travellers were stranded in York when an overhead electricity fault forced operators to turn the power off part of the East Coast Main Line in North Yorkshire.

Engineers from Network Rail were today investigating what caused the damage to cables above the south-bound line at Hutton Bonneville, near Northallerton.

Some passengers were delayed for more than four hours after the route between Northallerton and Darlington was closed just before 2pm yesterday.

Two hours later a partial service resumed when the north-bound line was reopened. A replacement bus service ferried some GNER passengers between York and Darlington.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said the power was switched off as a safety precaution and engineers worked quickly to restore services.

A GNER spokesman said more than a dozen services between Kings Cross, the North-East and Scotland were affected.

Ann Kirby was waiting at York Station for more than two hours, trying to catch a train home to Northallerton.

"I'm fed up," she said. "Even now the trains have started running again, it's so confusing. We keep getting sent to different platforms."

Gary Keay had been stuck in Durham for two hours and when he finally reached York Station he had to start waiting again, this time for a train to Manchester.

"I am annoyed, but there's no point getting wound up, as the only person you are winding up is yourself," he said.

Updated: 10:38 Wednesday, April 28, 2004