Travellers using the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London North Eastern Railway (LNER) services over next few days should check carefully regarding departure times.

Travel disruption was caused over the weekend by the discovery of cracks in some high-speed trains.

Robert Nisbet, of the Rail Delivery Group, warned that disruption was expected to "carry on for a few days".

Hull Trains and TransPennine Express were also affected.

Train supplier Hitachi has apologised and said it was investigating the issue.

Mr Nisbet, whose organisation represents train operators and Network Rail, apologised to anyone affected by the disruption.

He told BBC Breakfast that rail firms were running as many services as possible, including rail replacement services, in addition to putting on extra staff at affected stations, relaxing ticket acceptance rules and offering compensation for delays.

Mr Nisbet said it was "gratifying to see the speed at which initial inspections were taking place".

He said: "It's impossible for me to say exactly how long that is going to take, we are obviously going through this as quickly as possible, but we don't want to rush it.

He said the cracks – millimetres – "didn't pose any particular danger to passengers that were travelling on those trains, but if you don't treat these kind of issues early on then they have the potential to develop."

The Department for Transport (DfT) has asked the rail industry to urgently set out a comprehensive plan to resolve prolonged disruption following the discovery of cracks in the Class 800 Series Hitachi trains.

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