East Coast Main Line reopens after major gas leak in Durham halted trains

Northern Gas Networks (NGN) said emergency engineers were called to fix a repair to a gas escape near the A691 Framwelgate Peth.

Due to the close proximity to the railway station, the East Coast Main Line was closed through Durham while work was ongoing. It was reopened at around 4.30pm.

First Trans Pennine services from the south had been terminating at Darlington. Virgin Trains East Coast and CrossCountry were diverting where possible or terminating at York.

NGN said the gas escape was caused by “third party damage” to a medium pressure gas main at around 11am.

The A691 was closed to traffic in both directions between the Framwelgate Peth roundabouts but were partly reopened as engineers got the problem under control.

John Richardson, customer operations area manager at Northern Gas Networks said: “We reopened the East Coast Main Line at around 4.03pm today after making the situation safe.

“The two outbound lanes on the A691 Framwelgate Peth have also been reopened to traffic and we’re currently reopening the inside inbound lane. The nearside inbound lane will remain closed while we continue to work to repair the pipe.

“We’d like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused and thank everyone for their patience.”

Northern Gas Networks Customer Care team is available on 0800 040 7766 or you can email [email protected]

Anyone that smells gas or suspects Carbon Monoxide should call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. This line is in operation 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.