CUSTOMERS of Great Western Railway are still being advised not to travel on long distance rail services from Wiltshire to London Paddington.

The company says the disruption caused by checks on its fleet of Hitachi high speed trains is likely to carry on until they are put back into service.

The company withdrew its trains from service after discovering hairline cracks in the suspension of some trains.

The train operator said full refunds would be issued for journeys already booked.

A GWR spokesman said: “A number of Class 800 series Hitachi trains in use by several train companies, including GWR, have been withdrawn from service for precautionary safety checks.

"Once they have been checked by Hitachi and cleared, we hope to bring them back into service as soon as possible. We will keep you up to date here.

"We have had to cancel many of our long-distance services and expect disruption to journeys to continue for the next few days."

Local services have been running but they are expected to be very busy and rail replacement services are limited

On Saturday, the company disclosed that hairline cracks had been detected on “more than one” of its fleet of 93 Hitachi 800 trains, so all were being inspected as a precaution.

GWR was forced to take six of the trains out of service last month after hairline cracks were found in the suspension systems during routine maintenance.

GWR introduced the Hitachi Class 800 high speed trains in October 2017. They are assembled at the Hitachi factory in Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.

Andrew Barr, chief executive officer of Hitachi Rail, apologised to passengers and said the trains were withdrawn because of cracks found on the metal that linked the train’s body with the underside of the train, known as the bogie.

The UK government has asked Hitachi to set out a comprehensive plan to identify the extent of the cracking and outline a longer-term repair strategy.

Robert Nisbet, of the Rail Delivery Group, said 183 high speed trains taken out of service on Saturday had been inspected by Sunday evening but warned that disruption was expected to “carry on for a few days.”

The problems with the trains are also affecting other train operators, including London North Eastern Railway and Hull Trains.

GWR is urging passengers to check services before booking. Commuters can use their tickets on the following services:

• Avanti West Coast trains between Birmingham New Street and London Euston

• London Northwestern Railway trains between Birmingham New Street and London Euston

• West Midlands Railway trains between Hereford/Worcester and Birmingham New Street

• Chiltern Railways via any “reasonable” route

• CrossCountry via any “reasonable” route