RAIL travellers were facing utter chaos today as Railtrack launched the biggest work programme on the network for more than 100 years.

Trains were running late or being cancelled throughout the weekend because of slower speed restrictions and a number of station closures.

A spokesman for Railtrack said: "Over the weekend, hundreds of teams of workers will be laying more than 41,000 metres, almost 24 miles, of rail at more than 160 sites across the country." But a "Dunkirk spirit" prevailed among passengers at York Railway Station last night as cancellations and delays brought confusion and frustration.

Trains were packed yesterday, often with standing room only, as passengers jumped on the first train they could find, and platform assistants were surrounded by bewildered passengers who did not know which platform to go to or when their trains would leave.

As the rush hour approached its peak on the day dubbed Black Friday by the media, irate Londoner Simone Hemingway, who had been to Harrogate for a conference and whose train to Birmingham was an hour-and-a-half late, stormed: "I don't have a car, but this would severely tempt me to buy one."

Canadian Ryan MacIvor, who because of delays had already missed a connection to Hull to catch a ferry across the North Sea, was desperately trying to find out how to get to Harwich instead.

"It's a bit frantic here," he admitted. "Since we came down from Edinburgh it has been utter chaos."

But Paul Curzon, who had travelled down to York from Berwick, insisted: "It was fine. The train was about 15 minutes late, but they seem to be doing all right."

With GNER running at only 80 per cent capacity, train company bosses had warned passengers not to travel unless "absolutely necessary".

Emergency buses have been drafted in to help ease pressure, and GNER revealed today taxi fares and hotel reservations for passengers who had missed connections were costing the company thousands of pounds.

For 11 consecutive days a team of volunteers has been re-arranging airline tickets, Eurostar reservations and organising hotel and onward travel for stranded passengers - including £130 taxi fares to London. GNER spokesman Dave Mallender said: "We always aim to get people where they want to go."

York MP Hugh Bayley was among the victims of the rail chaos yesterday.

Despite leaving four hours for the journey from London to York, he was late for a meeting at York District Hospital.

Speaking on a mobile phone from somewhere near Peterborough, where his train was already an hour late, he told the Evening Press: "I have had to change my travel plans. I am trying to leave four hours now for the journey from London, but that isn't enough."