Rail sewage still problem.

Rail firm GNER last night admitted it still has a problem with trains spraying excrement as they pass through the North-East countryside.

The company last summer pledged the problem ( which has seen workers and trainspotters doused with sewage ( would be fixed in October.

But after trade union RMT carried out new tests at the section of track near Ferryhill, south Durham, GNER said incidents are still occurring. The problem is caused by full toilet tanks on its trains. The company said a new tank emptying facility at a depot in Heaton, Newcastle, would solve it ( but yesterday it was forced to admit that it has merely reduced the discharges. GNER said more than pounds 500,000 had been spent on the new tank emptying facility.