10:41AM, Sat Jun 30, 2012

Rail Services Hit As 'Super Storm' Clean Up Continues

By Adrian Hogg Location: Newcastle

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman visited the North East on Saturday, June 30, as home-owners, businesses and the insurance industry count the cost of a major clean-up operation.

Hundreds of rail engineers were still working to repair damaged tracks which disrupted services between England and Scotland.

The volume of rain that fell on Thursday, June 28, submerged cars and flooded homes which were well away from rivers and streams.

Northern Powergrid said 2,450 customers in the North East were without electricity after lightning strikes damaged supply lines.

Claire Austin, a forecaster with the MeteoGroup, the weather arm of the Press Association, said the outlook for the weekend was sunshine and showers for most places, with no sign of a repeat of the intense storms.

"Next week is looking like more rain for most places," she said.

The Tyne and Wear Metro network is running a reduced train service, with replacement buses operating between some stations.

Rail services were badly disrupted as rain tore away track beds at Scremerston, just south of Berwick in Northumberland.

It led to thousands being stranded as no trains could pass between Newcastle and Edinburgh. The route has since been reopened, but with journey times extended by 90 minutes. Trains to Carlisle are being stopped at Haltwhistle due to another landslip. A replacement bus service has been put in place for the rest of the journey.

Northern Powergrid said the areas most affected by loss of power were Consett, Stanhope and Alnwick.

The company has cancelled all planned engineering work and redeployed staff in a bid to restore power to all homes as soon as possible.