PASSENGERS have been promised the East Coast mainline will be open as usual today after a weekend of rail misery.

The line between Darlington and York was shut on Friday morning for maintenance work and remained closed until this morning.

Hundreds of people had to queue at Darlington station to get buses to take them to York before they could continue their journey south.

At the busiest times, queues six-people-deep were snaking the length of the station platform.

Many angry passengers complained that the work, carried out by Network Rail just north of York, was causing disruption at one of the busiest times of the year.

Elaine Laker, who was returning to London after visiting relatives in Newcastle, said: "It is an absolute nightmare. There are crowds of people with suitcases milling about and no one really knows what is going on.

"Journeys that should only take a few hours are going to end up taking all day.

"It is cold, wet and everyone is really miserable. It's not a nice way to end the Christmas break."

Some elderly passengers complained that instructions that they would need help to get their luggage from the coaches to their trains were ignored and they were left to carry their own luggage at York.

Defending the line closure, a GNER spokesman said the Christmas holidays were not as busy as other times of the year and staff were on hand to ensure people got on to coaches for the next part of their journey.

He also said leaflets, posters and newspaper adverts had been distributed to warn people the work would be carried out.