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‘Do not travel on Sunday’ says LNER as warning rail disruption could last for days

An LNER Azuma train at York Station. Photograph: YorkMix
@ Transport

Travellers are being asked by LNER not to travel again today (Sunday) as the rail disruption brought about by the discovery of cracks in some trains continues.

Hitachi 800 trains were pulled from lines on Saturday as a “precautionary measure” after the fault was found in some trains.

Experts say problems could continue for some days to come.

LNER has this statement on its travel update page: “Due to earlier disruption to services on Saturday 8 May, there is a reduced service today, Sunday 9 May.

“Because of this, we’re advising customers not to travel today. Tickets dated Saturday 8 May or Sunday 9 May will be valid for travel between Monday 10 and Sunday 16 May 2021. Please check before you travel. You must have a reservation to travel.”

Hull Trains, which runs services through Selby, resumed normal service on Saturday afternoon. Transpennine Express was reporting a good service on most of its network this morning, after being hit by the train withdrawals yesterday.

Robert Nisbet, regional director at the Rail Delivery Group told BBC Breakfast: “With the inspections completed initially by the end of today, we are still expecting some disruption to carry on for a few days.

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A social distancing sign at York Station. Photograph: Richard McDougall

“It’s impossible for me to say exactly how long that is going to take, but we are obviously going through this as quickly as possible, but we don’t want to rush it.

“We want to ensure that all of those trains are thoroughly inspected and cleared and put into service when things are ready, but there may well be a knock-on effect for some of those timetables into next week.”

He said the cracks – measuring millimetres – are on the “lifting points on the underside of the carriages used for maintenance”.

Mr Nisbet said: “It’s fair to say this didn’t pose any particular danger to passengers that were travelling on those trains but if you don’t treat these kind of issues early on then they have the potential to develop.”

More details about all train services on the National Rail website.