Engineers are installing piles into the embankment to stabilise and strengthen the land that the railway line sits on, but the complexities of the repair and difficult access to the site means that the reopening of both lines is being delayed.

The northbound line from Darlington towards Newcastle will remains closed, but the southbound line from Newcastle towards Darlington continues to be open with LNER, Lumo, and CrossCountry able to run a limited train service safely in both directions. TransPennine Express and Northern are not able to run trains through the affected area.

Paul Rutter, Route Director for Network Rail's East Coast route, said: "Our engineers are working incredibly hard to fix the landslip at Aycliffe and return both train lines for rail services, however, the work is complicated."

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