STORMY weather caused headaches for commuters using the East Coast Mainline on Wednesday afternoon.
Signalling systems between Darlington and Newcastle were struck by lightning – causing damage to the main rail route in the region.
All services through the area were suspended before noon with severe delays and cancellations continuing hours later.
#VTECUpdate Due to a lightning strike damaging the signalling system between Darlington and Newcastle, all lines are currently blocked.
— Virgin Trains EC (@Virgin_TrainsEC) July 20, 2016
CrossCountry, Northern, TransPennine Express and Virgin Trains East Coast were all affected by the signalling issue which has since been resolved.
A National Rail Enquiries spokesman said: "Trains may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes. This is expected to continue until 3.30pm."
A bus service was provided for stranded passengers between Darlington and Durham.
Northern's Morpeth services continued to terminate at Newcastle and Northern's Metro Centre services were cancelled entirely.
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