SERVICES between London Paddington and Reading are almost back to normal today, after 500m of overhead wire was brought down by a Hitachi Class 802 running under test on Tuesday evening.

Network Rail engineers have been working to restore the damaged section at Hanwell, and most of the repairs were completed last night.

However, Network Rail warned: ‘The extent of the damage means we will not be able to complete our repairs in one night, so while services on Thursday morning will be significantly improved, there may still be some disruption. We advise passengers to continue to check with train operators before travelling.’

With Great Western Main Line services largely back to normal, attention is now focused on what went wrong.

Engineers from Hitachi and Network Rail are carrying out a detailed investigation of the train and the damaged wire.

Class 802s, a variant of the Intercity Express, have already entered passenger service on GWR between London, Plymouth and Penzance, while another test train ran successfully to Newquay on Monday, in preparation for the withdrawal of all full-length HSTs on GWR.