TRAIN companies have cancelled a number of services across the UK today after hairline cracks were apparently found in some high speed trains.

An investigation is now underway after the possible fault was identified in the suspension of some of its Hitachi Class 800 trains, Great Western Railway said.

The issue has also affected LNER and Transpennine Express services.

Hitachi Rail has this morning issued an apology to passengers affected by the travel disruption and said it is working to resolve the issue "quickly and safely".

Transpennine Express said: "A number of Class 800 series trains from several train companies have been taken out of service today for checks as a precautionary measure, including our Nova 1 trains.

"This problem is being investigated by the train manufacturer and once trains have been checked, we hope to be able to release them back into service as soon as possible.

"This will affect a significant number of services on our Newcastle to Liverpool route and we are advising customers not to travel on this route today."

And LNER asked passengers not to travel, tweeting: 

The cause of last-minute train cancellations across the country is due to a crack which has been found on “more than one” Hitachi 800 train, Great Western Railway (GWR) has confirmed.

A GWR spokesperson said a crack was spotted in multiple trains which they operate, so all 93 Hitachi 800s in their fleet are now being inspected as a “precaution”.

The spokesperson said: “There’s a crack that’s been spotted and as a result of that – as a precaution – we’re checking all the trains, and while that’s taking place it’s better that they’re not used.

“It’s been found in more than one train, but we don’t know exactly how many trains because the fleet is still being inspected.”

The spokesperson added that the issue is affecting long-distance journeys between cities, but that suburban and rural GWR services are still running as normal.

In a statement on their website, GWR said: “A number of Class 800 series Hitachi trains from several train companies have been taken out of service this morning for checks as a precautionary measure.

“As a result we have had to cancel a significant number of long-distance train services to and from Paddington, and while local services are running, we expect them to be very busy.

“This problem is being investigated by Hitachi and once trains have been checked and cleared, we hope to be able to release them back into service as soon as possible.”

Rail Union RMT's General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "RMT is fully aware of the issues that have led to the cancellation of services on LNER today and that similar problems with cracks appearing in the fleet on Great Western are also emerging. 

"Hitachi needs to ensure the highest safety standards and properly investigate and rectify the issues. 

" This situation demonstrates once again that it is reckless for the rail companies and the DfT to move the industry to diluted, risk-based maintenance regimes which extends maintenance cycles on rolling stock or on the infrastructure, whether that be on the mainline railway or on the tube and metro services, to cut costs and strip out staff.  

"The railway needs to be maintained rigorously and to the highest possible standards to protect the travelling public and the staff and that will remain RMT's key demand."