Scotrail takes electric trains out of service

5 October 2018, 12:17 | Updated: 5 October 2018, 12:21

ScotRail has taken its newest trains out of service following the discovery of a technical fault.

The fault was identified on Thursday on one of the Hitachi class 385 electric trains which were introduced to the fleet in July.

A spokesman for ScotRail confirmed all of the class 385 trains are currently out of service while testing is carried out.

It is understood the move led to a shortage of carriages for commuters on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line on Friday morning.

ScotRail chief operating officer Angus Thom has apologised to any passengers whose journeys have been disrupted.

He said: "The brand new Hitachi class 385 electric trains have been operating well since their introduction in July.

"A technical fault was identified on one of the trains on Thursday, which Hitachi is now investigating.

"We are sorry to any customers whose journey was disrupted as a result of this.

"As a precaution, while Hitachi carries out further testing, we are restricting the use of class 385 trains."

In July, ScotRail said there were due to be 70 of the new class 385 electric trains running in the central belt by early next year.