Rail work which left stations closed over the Easter weekend caused little disruption to travellers heading north from York, rail companies have claimed.

But continuing work means passengers will be faced with closures every weekend for the next eight weeks.

After a nine-week programme to renew points on the south side of Darlington station started trains were unable to stop between Northallerton and Newcastle.

Passengers to Darlington, Durham and Chester-le-Street changed to buses at Northallerton which shuttled them to the closed stations.

They were advised to add an hour on to the expected time for journeys between London and Newcastle.

A Railtrack spokesman claimed trains would not be able to use Darlington station between 7pm on Saturday and 11am on Sunday for the next eight weeks because of the continuing work.

But, she added, Durham and Chester-le-Street stations should not be affected again.

She said: "Most passengers will not be affected because the bulk of the work is being carried out at night."

A spokesman for GNER said future disruption to normal services caused by the work would not be on the scale seen over Easter.

He said: "Saturday and Sunday of the Easter weekend is the quietest time of the year for us because people usually travel on the Thursday or Friday and return on the Monday, so that is why this work was carried out then.

"We managed to get extra staff out on trains and on platforms to help passengers and we told people about the changes when they bought their tickets. It was also publicised well in advance.

"We haven't had any complaints about the weekend service as yet and I think most passengers were aware that it was going to happen."

A Virgin spokesman said the company's cross country service had terminated at York, with passengers travelling north transferring to GNER services.

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