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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 train.

The fleet launched with great fanfare, after Great Western Railway trains were given a £10bn upgrade.

However the first passenger service by the new Hitachi-built Intercity Express trains, which cost £5.7bn to deliver, was disrupted as it travelled from Bristol to London on Monday morning.

It was due to leave Bristol Temple Meads at 6am but did not set off until around 6.25am frustrating commuters - including the transport secretary Chris Grayling.

The Great Western Railway service, which was also carrying industry bosses along with regular commuters, arrived at London Paddington 41 minutes late.

Passengers were forced to stand despite claims that the trains had an increased capacity of 20%.

Faulty air conditioning led to leaks and the cooling system eventually had to be turned off leaving passengers who paid £204 for a standard return to London sweating in the unseasonably mild weather.

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".

(Image: PA)

A Hitachi Rail Europe spokesman said: “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.”

Yesterday Mr Grayling hit the headlines after suggesting that if the UK crashed out of the EU without a deal then British farmers would grow more food.

Asked about the consequences of a 'no deal Brexit' on food prices Mr Grayling said: "It would mean producers, supermarkets bought more at home, that Brit farmers produced more, that they bought more from around the world and it would damage French producers and continental producers."

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There have been increased fears of a so-called 'no deal Brexit' after the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier admitted this week’s fifth round of negotiations finished without making any “great steps forward.”

Labour MP Peter Kyle, a backer of the Open Britain campaign group, said Mr Grayling was “taking the British people for fools if he thinks we can just dig for victory”.

Mr Kyle added: “British farmers are dependent on workers from Europe coming here to harvest crops. Without them, our agricultural industry will face massive labour shortages, raising the price of food in the shops.”