A drive to recruit an extra 1,000 staff to help bring Britain's railways up to scratch has been announced - with Railtrack wanting the jobs filled in January.

About 300 engineers and 700 signallers will be recruited from school leavers, graduates, those who took early retirement, people returning from a career break and professional engineers.

The recruitment drive follows the Christmas programme of work, taking in more than 60 locations across the country.

Railtrack plans to replace about 25 miles of track and more than 50 sets of points, removing or easing a further 100 more speed restrictions. The programme includes the engineering work at Leeds Station which has left commuters travelling from York to Leeds on replacement buses during the festive season. Railtrack chief executive Steve Marshall said the company expected 85 per cent of services to be back to normal by the time the January 29 emergency timetable was published.

And York MP Hugh Bayley has offered his thanks to Railtrack workers who "gave up their Christmas" to help restore the railway network.

"I want to congratulate the workers who did so much over Christmas to work on the tracks," said Mr Bayley.

"We must ensure in future that regular maintenance takes place so that there is no repeat of this backlog of work."