Transport secretary embarrassed after new 'high-speed' fleet of trains faces huge delays and faults - with him on board

A new fleet of high-speed trains was hailed by Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, as "a fantastic service" - before he found himself trapped on a broken-down, delayed service.

The fleet launched with great fanfare, after GWR trains were given a £10bn upgrade. However, disaster struck as commuters boarded the trains on Monday morning.

Water poured from the air conditioning units as frustrated commuters, including Chris Grayling on the delayed 6am train, faced delays of up to 40 minutes.

The Hitachi 800 was due to leave Bristol Temple Meads for London Paddington at 6am sharp but didn't depart until 6.25am for unspecified 'technical issues'.

Passengers were still forced to stand, despite claims that capacity on the new trains was increased by 20 per cent.

One had their laptop damaged as water from the air conditioning poured into one of the carriages.

The air conditioning had to be turned off and passengers who paid £204 for a standard return to London were left uncomfortably warm in the unseasonably mild weather.

There were delays of up to 40 minutes coming into London, and the air conditioning broke, drenching the seats and forcing commuters to stand in what was reportedly sweltering heat for the entirety of their delayed journeys.

The upgrades include new, more comfortable seating and a renovated First Class, serving food to passengers on the high-speed trains.

The new trains are designed to travel faster as they accelerate more rapidly and include a digital reservation system telling passengers whether a seat is booked.

Carriages also have more plug sockets and Wi-Fi throughout.

Passengers grumbled on social media, complaining they would rather have a train with seating they could sit on, that ran on time.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who was on the first service, said: "These are the smartest trains in the country, probably the best we have ever had in the country.

"This going to be a fantastic service, really regular trains and far more capacity."

The Department for Transport said: "The new trains are a renewal of the ageing Intercity 125 fleet, which was first introduced in 1976, and they will go on to replace fleets across the country.

"The government-led Intercity Express Programme (IEP), funded by Agility Trains, has brought together Hitachi Rail, GWR, Virgin Trains East Coast and Network Rail to design, develop and build the new class of state-of-the-art, modern trains and supporting depot infrastructure for the Great Western and East Coast routes."

A GWR spokesperson said: "Unfortunately, the train was delayed this morning due to a minor technical matter that was quickly resolved at the depot. These trains have been running successfully on UK tracks for over two years and recently passed the industry standard 5,000 miles running without a fault. Hitachi will be investigating this matter thoroughly.

"There was a fault with an air conditioning unit. Hitachi engineers were on board the service to fix it.

"The first Intercity Express Train was always likely to be very popular as people seek to be a passenger on the first ever train, and this did mean it carried more people than it usually would, particularly between Reading and Paddington. In normal conditions, this train will provide enough seats to more than accommodate the number of people that would usually travel on this train.

 "A 10 carriage IET has up to 24% more seats than the 8 carriage High Speed Train it replaces. We are pleased to be able to run this first train in passenger service and look forward to rolling out more trains in the coming months".

A Hitachi Rail Europe spokesman said:“Great Western Railway’s brand new Intercity Express Train carried passengers for the first time today, marking the start of the biggest fleet upgrade on the Great Western route in almost 40 years.

“Having already completed 5,000 miles of fault-free running, the first British-built Hitachi train from Paddington to Bristol departed on time at 07.00. It arrived at its destination smoothly and promptly, offering passengers more seats, space and fast wifi. More new trains will follow until the full fleet of 57 are in service next year.”

“The Bristol to London service experienced a few technical challenges, for which we apologise to passengers for any inconvenience caused. We are of course disappointed with an issue with this train’s air conditioning and water ingress in one of the carriages. We are investigating this as a matter of priority and will restore the train back into passenger service once fully rectified.”