CRACKED TRAINS CRISIS COULD GO ON FOR WEEKS

TRAVEL disruption caused by the discovery of cracks on some high-speed trains could last for weeks, warn rail bosses.

London North Eastern Railway services from London King’s Cross to Newcastle and Edinburgh, and Great Western Railway trains from London Paddington to Bristol, were largely cancelled over the weekend as a result of the problem.

And both operators advised passengers not to travel yesterday.

Hitachi Class 800 trains have been withdrawn from service for safety checks, after the cracks in lifting points under carriages were found on some of them during maintenance work.

‘Safety is our number one priority,’ a Hitachi spokesman said, adding that teams were working ‘day and night’ to resolve the issue.

But commuters slammed operators for running limited services yesterday. And rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris urged firms to use alternative trains or deliver a clear bus replacement schedule.

Robert Nisbet, of industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said replacement trains could be deployed during repair work if more ‘tiny cracks’ were found in any of the ones being inspected.

Asked if he knew how long the disruption could last, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘No, I can’t put an exact time on it, purely because we are going through the process and taking it extremely seriously.’

Earlier, he had said the cracks posed ‘no particular danger to passengers’ but had the potential to cause a problem if they were ‘left untreated’.