THE transport secretary Andrew Adonis has revealed that he has held emergency talks with rail operators to provide extra trains while the volcano dust air crisis goes on.

Aviation disruption is now expected to continue until next week after the Icelandic eruption on Wednesday spewed ash 11km high into the atmosphere.

A few planes have been allowed to fly today, but some 17,000 flights have been cancelled across western Europe after the dust arrived from the north west. It's feared that it will be slow to clear.

Lord Adonis said he had been talking to transport operators about bolstering train and ferry services on key domestic and international routes. Eurostar has been running close to capacity, and long queues have built up at St Pancras International.

Virgin has already carried more than 2,000 extra passengers between London and Scotland, while East Coast has spot-hired an additional set to provide relief trains between King's Cross, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Some scheduled East Coast services have also been extended to Newcastle or Edinburgh. The operator said it had already carried more than 5,000 additional passengers since the crisis began on Thursday.

Meanwhile Network Rail has been working with train operators to provide extra capacity, and some engineering work is being cancelled for the time being to keep lines clear.

Operations director Robin Gisby said: “We have reviewed all engineering work we have planned for the next few days and where it will allow train operators to run existing or extra services, this work has been cancelled. This mainly applies to long-distance operators on the East and West Coast Main Lines and on routes to the Channel ports. I would like to take this opportunity to assure the public that the volcanic ash cloud is having no material impact on the safe and punctual running of passenger and freight trains.”

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