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Wow. Almost the entirety of Britain’s high-speed train network has been wiped out today. All of the ubiquitous Class 800 trains have been withdrawn for safety inspections, affecting multiple operators. https://twitter.com/lner/status/1390902235211649027
So that’s LNER east coast services, GWR to Wales and south-west England, Hull Trains, and some Trans-Pennine Express services up the spout. (Avanti West Coast mostly use Pendolinos so they’re not affected, contrary to a tweet I deleted for being inexplicably bollocks.)
The problem is with yaw dampers. And what are yaw dampers I hear you ask? Well. They are a sort of shock absorber thing on the bogies that stops trains swaying from side to side too much. Hairline cracks have been found on some. You wouldn’t want them shearing off at 125mph.
The trains are owned and provided for service each day by the manufacturer, Hitatchi, due to the, erm, unique way in which they were procured (see also: hard seats). Mr Hitatchi will likely face a huuuge bill for failing to make his trains available this morning.
An insider writes: it’s not the yaw dampers today (although there has been an issue with those recently - on GWR I think.) But at least we all now know what yaw dampers do and that’s good knowledge. https://twitter.com/beingjarley/status/1390957117968982019
(If anyone knows what the issue is, my DMs are open.)
Update: the issue, apparently, arose after severe cracks were found in jacking points in a unit at the GWR depot at Stoke Gifford. The jacking points are used to lift the train bodies off the bogies - so would mostly be a depot problem but again not one you want to have at 125mph
