Transport Secretary Chris Grayling was a passenger aboard the first of the inter-city express trains on a journey between Bristol and London's Paddington terminal.

Grayling hailed the start of what he described as a new era in rail passenger services on the first of a fleet of trains replacing the ageing Intercity 125 fleet, which was first introduced in 1976. Nine years of hard work has gone into the development of the new train, from creating a brand new factory and workforce.

The new fleet will provide thousands of extra seats during peak hours on major routes between London and Scotland as well along the famous Great Western Rail (GWR) to England's southwest region.

Grayling said: "These new state-of-the-art trains will carry people across Britain, from Swansea to Aberdeen and London to Inverness. I'm pleased to be on the very first of these brand new trains to welcome them into action."

The fleet, which is being built at Hitachi Rail Europe's manufacturing facility in northeast England will be rolled out across the Great Western and East Coast lines over the next three years.

More than 70 percent of the parts sourced for building the trains at the facility come from British suppliers.