A railway company has been suffering its own fuel crisis as diesel supplies struggle to get through because of work on the £165 million revamp of Leeds Station.

Northern Spirit has been forced to set up special refuelling points at Skipton because trains cannot get to Neville Hill, on the eastern side of Leeds, where they usually top up their tanks.

Diesel trains have replaced electric trains on the tracks while the work is carried out because the electric lines are not able to operate.

But the refuelling depot at Leeds, the main source of fuel for Northern Spirit, is blocked from the west side by engineering work and trains have to make a long detour for supplies.

Company spokesman Simon Godfrey said: "The blockage at Leeds is very inconvenient and has caused very significant problems for Northern Spirit."

As reported in the Telegraph & Argus yesterday, passengers to Bradford from Manchester Victoria at 6.20pm were told the train had been cancelled because there was no fuel.

After fed-up commuters vented their anger, the train was taken to a depot in Manchester for diesel by First North Western and a service ran half an hour late.

But rail user groups have urged people not to lay the blame at the operators door, saying the problem is down to Railtrack.

Tom Wesley, chairman of Wharfedale Rail Users Group, said: "It is a very embarrassing thing for Northern Spirit which leaves a lot of egg on their face. I can imagine the poor driver and guard on the train saying sorry we have run out of fuel.

"That shouldn't have happened, but the fundamental reason is that Railtrack have not finished the work on time.

"The normal pattern has been disrupted. Trains wouldn't normally run out of diesel fuel. "We as a rail user group are not happy about it but we realise the difficulties that Northern Spirit are under."

Railtrack was expected to announce today exactly when it expects the current phase of the modernisation project to be complete.

Services were expected to resume on January 2 but the company admitted it was "too ambitious" and set a new deadline of January 15.