This is the IET, a family of mass-produced
high-speed trains for the UK Railway network with a dodgy reputation for its dubious
quality and questionable comfort. Let's find out if these trains are really as bad
as British travelers claim as I undertake a journey in second class from the Welsh capital
of Cardiff to Exeter with Great Western Railway. Our journey begins from Cardiff's historic
Central Station, dating back as early as 1850. Heading inside, we'll find a
small but lovely station hall. Here, you'll find most of the facilities you'd expect
at a train station, with a small shop and some coffee outlets. As I'm quite early for the train,
it's not shown on the departure board yet. So, while we wait for the train to appear,
take a look at this nice station building. At the other end of the station building,
you'll find a supermarket as well as a manned ticket office, and across from that
is where you'll find the ticket machines. Looking at the departure board again,
our 10:59 service to Penzance has now appeared. Access to platforms is through ticket
gates, so make sure to have your ticket ready. Our train today is leaving from track number
two, which is the first set of stairs here. Arriving on platform number two before
our train is this CrossCountry Turbostar, having formed a service from Nottingham.
However, the station mostly sees service from Transport for Wales, operating many
local services in and out of Cardiff using both new Stadler Flirt trains and a
bit older classic British Rail stock, as well as longer-distance services across Wales
and into England. The third and final operator to serve Cardiff is Great Western Railway. To
Cardiff, they use both the longer nine-car variants of the IET family of trains, mainly
on the services to and from London. But today, we will be traveling on the shorter five-car
version on service towards Penzance. Our train specifically is known as a Class 802,
built by Hitachi, and operates at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour. The external destination
displays easily help you locate your carriage, and with our train soon departing, it's
time we head onboard. As I don't have a seat reservation today, I'm just taking
any available seat in standard class. It's easy to see if a seat is available thanks
to the clear reservation displays above every seat. Settled in, our train starts moving
from Cardiff Central right on time at 10:59. [Welcome aboard this Great Western
Railway service to Penzance.] With our journey now well underway, it's time
we take a look at the map for the route of today's journey. The 10:59 service starts
from Cardiff Central and then heads east, crossing under the Severn River into England
through Bristol and then southwest towards Exeter, which is as far as I'll be traveling. The
train covers a distance of 115 miles in 2 hours and 23 minutes, giving the
train an average speed of 48 mph. As we speed towards our first station
stop in Newport, I noticed that these trains vibrate and shake a lot. While not the
worst I've ever experienced, the vibration and shakiness are definitely below standard for
what's acceptable on a modern long-distance train. Our train has now reached Newport,
one of the fastest-growing cities in Wales, known for having one of the last remaining usable
transporter bridges. And speaking of bridges, as we depart here from Newport, we cross over the
River Usk. As we speed towards the Severn Tunnel, it's about time we talk about the main criticism
of these trains: the standard class seats, which are used on journeys on GWR for up to 5
hours. But let's start with some of the positives: there is a sturdy table, and while small, it does
come with a laptop bracket. Every seat gets a power outlet below the seat in front, and you'll
find a good amount of space to store baggage, which is nice to see. But this is where the
good stuff ends. These seats have no headrest, almost no padding in the cushioning, and a
terrible ergonomic design. These seats are barely good enough for a journey over an hour,
let alone something even coming close to long distance. The build quality seems terrible as
well. I wonder how long these seats are going to last. Another terrible thing on these trains
is the Wi-Fi. While free and easy to connect to, the speeds offered make it pretty much useless.
However, it's not all bad. These trains have really large overhead racks, especially for
the tight UK loading gauge, and the seat reservation system, with its clear light system
and displays, is among the best I've ever seen. Our train has now made it to Severn Tunnel
Junction Station, our last stop in Wales. Shortly after departure, our train starts to
descend to enter the 4.4-mile-long tunnel that will take us under the Severn River and into
England. Opened in 1886, this was the longest underwater tunnel in the world at the time and
still today is the main railway link between England and South Wales. Our first stop on
the other side of the tunnel is Patchway, which is the last station on our train's journey
today to have overhead electrification. These trains are bi-mode, meaning we can travel using
electricity from the overhead wire when available, but when it's not, the train can instead
continue using the train's diesel generators. Right, I think it's about time for a tour
of the train. At the end of every standard class carriage, you will find luggage space
like this. The seating layout comes in an expected 2+2 mostly airline style, but some bays
of four. And I will say the ambiance in here is actually not that great. I'm not a fan of the
bright green, and in general, the train feels very plasticky. At the end of some carriages, you
will find more luggage space, or alternatively, it can be used for bikes. Continuing further down
the train, we will find first class, which has slightly more comfortable seats in a 2+1 layout.
And as usual, it's time for a toilet review. The door can easily be locked using this knob.
The toilet itself is clean and can be flushed using this button. However, the water doesn't
seem to be working. I've heard the sensor on these can be quite bad, but I think in this
case, it was actually broken. But either way, the sink is also terribly small, so
this is not really a good design, is it? Our train is now approaching Bristol Temple Meads,
one of the largest stations on the Great Western Railway, being a major interchange point. After a
scheduled stop here of 4 minutes, our train will now continue heading in a southwesterly
direction towards Exeter. From here on, our train continues to speed through the lovely
green fields, as I seem to have managed to travel to the UK on one of the few days where it didn't
rain. But as we were soon coming up on Exeter, I have to say I was really looking forward
to getting off this train at this point. The lack of padding on the seats makes it really
unpleasant to sit on for more than 2 hours, and I really don't want to know how my bum would
feel had I gone all the way to Penzance. And it's not cheap either. The on-the-spot fare from
Cardiff to Exeter is a whopping 60 quid for just 2 and a half hours of uncomfortable train travel.
However, it is worth noting that this price can be significantly reduced by booking in advance, using
a railcard, or split ticketing thanks to the UK Railway's needlessly complex ticketing system.
And just like that, here we are arriving into Exeter St David's Station a few minutes behind
schedule after what has been overall a pretty uneventful but unpleasant journey. There's really
not much to say about these trains other than it clearly seems that cost-cutting has gone too far.
The interior feels cheap, and it's inadequate for the type of service they're used on. It's a
shame that a once-great railway nation like the UK has ordered way more than 200 units of these
cost-cutting cattle carts for human transport. Thank you so much for joining me on this trip.
If you want to see more videos like this, make sure you subscribe to the channel as
I try to upload a new one every Sunday. You can also follow me over on Twitter at
@IntercitySimon. Thanks for watching.
