Edinburgh to London trains suspended as lightning strike sparks rail chaos

Thousands of Scottish rail passengers are being seriously disrupted on the Edinburgh-London east coast main line today following a lightning strike in York.

Southbound trains are running only as far as Darlington, while northbound trains are terminating at Doncaster.

Passengers are being shuttled the 90 miles between the stations by coach.

The 08:30 Edinburgh to Kings Cross service terminated at Newcastle due to the signalling issues as did the 09:00 service.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) said it hoped to restore a “much rdeuced and slower” through service later today.

But its advice to passengers remained: “Do not travel today”.

Tickets can be used instead on Virgin Trains services on the Glasgow-London west coast main line.

A LNER spokesman said: “Severe weather in Yorkshire has affected all signalling in York and Leeds.”

LNER urged passengers to not travel. Picture: Getty Images

A Network Rail spokesman said: “A signalling cabinet was struck by lightning outside York station which is causing significant disruption.

“A lot of trains are at a standstill including everything around York.”

Paula Dunstable tweeted: “Seems a lightning strike has taken out the whole [East] Coast Mainline ... stuck at Peterborough... on an increasingly hot train the LNER 09:30 Kings X /Edinburgh going nowhere ... with 400 other passengers.

“@LNER staff doing their best and being brilliant... ice and water.”

The disruption comes as the UK experiences soaring temperatures on what has been dubbed ‘Furnace Friday’.

Forecasters have predicted a high of 27C in Edinburgh, with temperatures expected to be in the mid-30s for much of east and south-east England, reaching 37C in London.

A Met Office yellow “be aware” warning for thunderstorms has been issued for Central, Tayside and Fife, which will come into force from 02:00 to 14:00 on Saturday.

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