Hitachi withdrew the entire Class 800, 801 and 802 fleets operated by Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER and TransPennine Express overnight on 7/8 May after severe cracks were discovered in jacking points.
In a further development, inspections of ScotRail’s Class 385 EMUs also found cracks in the same component, leading to withdrawal of a small number of that fleet too. And to add to operators’ concerns, cracks in yaw damper mountings on some of GWR’s fleet had also been found prior to the discovery of the jacking point issues. Repairs to the trains are expected to take up to 18 months.
