SEVERAL Virgin Cross Country services through York will be cut as part of an effort to improve reliability by reducing overcrowding on busy lines.

The Strategic Rail Authority has announced that about 100 rail services a day are to be axed across the country.

The number of Virgin trains from Newcastle to York will be cut from 28 to 26, and the number from Birmingham to Edinburgh, calling at York, will be reduced from 13 to 11.

A Virgin spokesman said the cut would generally affect lightly-used services in the early morning or late evening, and the reductions meant more carriages could be deployed on remaining trains at busier times of day.

Updated: 11:33 Thursday, January 16, 2003