People planning rail journeys in and out of Cornwall today have been advised not to travel for a second day following the discovery of hairline cracks in several high-speed trains.

Yesterday Great Western Railway announced that a number of Class 800 series Hitachi trains had been taken out of service for checks "as a precautionary measure."

It has now warned that the disruption will continue to effect rail services well into next week.

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High-speed trains through Cornwall cancelled after hairline cracks found

It affects all high-speed routes between London Paddington and Penzance, as well as four others.

In a statement issued today the company said a number of Class 800 Hitachi trains have been withdrawn for service for precautionary safety checks.

“As a result a significant number of long distance services will be cancelled on Sunday, May 9 and disruption is expected to continue into the following week.

"Customers with tickets for long distance services are being advised not to travel.

"While local services are running, they are expected to be very busy. Rail replacement services are extremely limited.

"Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Railway are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notices.

"Arrangement have been made for GWR tickets to be accepted on these journeys.

"Refunds will be provided. Visit GWR.com for more information."

The London Paddington - Reading - Taunton - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth - Penzance route is among five GWR routes affected, all connecting to London Paddington.

The company said yesterday: "You may be aware that [on Saturday] morning Hitachi withdrew their long distance InterCity Express (IET) trains from service as a precautionary measure following routine inspection of the fleet overnight. This has affected a number of rail companies including GWR, and Hitachi are now carrying out checks on all IET trains.

"Services on all our long distance routes were therefore cancelled today and it is now clear that this will continue into Sunday 9 May. We are advising customers on long distance routes not to travel. Refunds will be provided, and customers should visit www.gwr.com for more information. Our local and branch line services are unaffected, but we expect them to be busy given the current situation.

"As soon as the trains have been checked and cleared, we will release them back into service. However, until the inspections are complete, we will not know the impact on services next week. GWR managers and teams are therefore looking now to see how we might use the rest of our fleet to provide the best possible service across our routes.

"As things become clearer we will update you and we will keep customers informed of changes through our social media and on our website – www.gwr.com"

The company's website also gives this customer advice: "Owing to the short notice unavailability of carriages which form our High Speed train services there will be no train service or only an extremely limited service with no alternative means of transport available for throughout journeys, in either direction, on the following routes :-

"London Paddington - Swindon - Bath Spa - Bristol Temple Meads.

"London Paddington - Swindon - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Central - Swansea.

"London Paddington - Reading - Taunton - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth - Penzance.

"London Paddington - Reading - Oxford - Evesham - Worcester - Great Malvern - Hereford.

"London Paddington - Reading - Swindon - Gloucester - Cheltenham Spa.

"Intending customers for these routes are advised not to attempt to travel.