Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average age is of Hitachi’s Intercity Class 800 series fleet (a) that operate on the UK rail network and (b) that are affected by cracking.

The average age of the Class 800 fleet is 2.5 years. Engineers are undertaking detailed root cause analysis of the fleet to determine if the cracks are linked to the age of the fleet, and mileage operated