Only one train will run from Sunderland to London after a troubled rail service suffered yet another breakdown.
Grand Central's early morning 6.46am train will operate as normal but other services have been temporarily scrapped due to major work needed on four of its six power cars.
Thursday's 6.46am train broke down due to electrical failure in York, causi
ng all journeys in each direction to be cancelled for the day.
The return journey from Kings Cross will see only the 4.50pm from London reach Sunderland, with the 8.04am not running and the 11.27am train stopping in York.
People who have booked tickets for the cancelled and shortened journeys are being accompanied by Grand Central staff on rival operators National Express trains.
The York-based company has apologised for the changes on its website and is uncertain when a fuller service will be up and running but bosses are hopeful a temporary shuttle service from Hartlepool to York will be running in the next few days.
Tom Clift, managing director of the company, said: "The train broke down in York and could go no further south.
"We sorted out the passengers who were on the way down and issued them with appropriate tickets on other services so they could continue their journey.
"Sadly this led to a cancellation of all the day's services, but we are hopeful that there will be no long-term implications.
"There is a temporary new timetable in the meantime and we hope to have an improved timetable up and running soon."
The company says the fleet's reliability is to blame with "major component failures" needing to be fixed.
Grand Central launched its service from Sunderland to London in December last year and has faced a string of problems.
A spokesman said they were hoping the service would be back to normal by the middle of the week.
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