A FIRE near the railway line between Darlington and Durham is causing long delays for train passengers on Sunday afternoon.

Passengers have been left stuck on stationary trains along the East Coast Main Line after the fire broke out at around 5pm.

It has led to expected delays of up to an hour and all services on the route have been affected.

National Rail and services such as Virgin are updating customers via social media.

One passenger stranded on a southbound train between Durham and Darlington said: "I think they said that the fire was near Ferryhill and it must be significant enough to case such long delays.

"People are a little bit concerned as obviously we have just stopped next to a field and we don't know exactly where the fire is.

"I was supposed to be arriving in Darlington just after 5pm but now it's going to be after 6pm.

"It's a busy train as a lot of people have been away for the weekend and are on their way back home, but least it isn't a commuter train so people don't seem to be grumbling too much about the situation."