Hitachi’s UK express trains pressed back into service after more cracks discovered Hitachi’s Class 800 high-speed Intercity Express Trains (IETs) are being returned to service less than a week after engineers identified cracks in the chassis during routine maintenance work at North Pole depot in London. Faults were discovered in 150 of the Class 800 vehicles, but yesterday Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris announced the trains would re-enter service. He claimed ongoing “safety tests” would ensure the return of “reliable and punctual services” on the Great Western Railway and London North Eastern Railway (LNER). A GWR Class 800 Azuma train at Castle Cary on the Exeter St Davids-London Paddington service (credit: Wikimedia Commons)