Hitachi IET 80X Class Train Problems
An anonymous report from a whistleblower on the inside of a railway company about the unsatisfactory reliability of this type of passenger train.
The IET 80X class trains operated by GWR are experiencing increased reliability problems. In the option of a member of staff, they consider them “not fit for purpose”.
There is already a list of known problems, including the severe cracking of the bolster plate to vehicle shell, failing door seals, defective toilets, flaking paintwork and seats that are both uncomfortable and also quickly wearing out.
But the biggest problem at the moment is with the diesel engines. These are known as generator units (GU for short). These generate the electricity used to power both the electric motors that drive the wheels and all on board electrical equipment when the train is operating outside of the lines that are electrified.
One of the problems with the GUs is the fuel pumps. GWR have over one hundred IET/80X vehicles going out each day with some isolated GUs/engines.
Here is an example of a recent concerning incident.
On Wednesday 19th November 2025, one train formed of two five car IET sets (802015 + 802022 according to the RealTimeTrains website) was used to form the 20:03 departure from London Paddington to Plymouth running under the train description (head) code of 1C96.
This train failed and became stranded at Lipson Junction about one mile from Plymouth station. The weather conditions were not very good at the time. It was after midnight so it was dark and cold. And snow was falling.
The train had been made available by Hitachi, who maintain these trains, to GWR, the train operator. However, only three of the fitted six Generator Units (GUs) were actually in a working condition. The remaining three having been isolated and therefore not available for use.
If the train was only going to be used on the electrified lines, this may have been acceptable. But this train would be travelling for over 150 miles using only it’s three working diesel engines (GUs) for power.
Clearly when you only have half the number of engines powering the train, the remaining engines must do double the work. The three working engines will consequently, burn through fuel more than they would normally.
This train suffered a failure of one of the GUs because one engine ran of of fuel. The driver contacted Hitachi control to advise that they were now running on only two GUs. During the call, it was implied to them that the set shouldn't have been sent to Plymouth. They had been monitoring the fuel levels due to concerns that it may run out of fuel.
The question is, why was the train was allowed to continue in service to Plymouth?
As the train continued on towards Plymouth, the remaining two GUs shut down and the train ground to a halt.
The GUs are the only substantial source of power outside of an electrified line area, so when there are no working GUs, you immediately lose all heating and air conditioning.
In cold snowy weather conditions that means that the passengers and crew will become cold.
A reduced level of lighting will continue operating on the battery supply for a time. But soon this will begin to fail. And the train will become dark. Some passengers can be unnerved by this.
As the power level remaining in the batteries falls, you also lose the ability to make public address announcements and the ability to make crew calls between the sets. Keep in mind that there is no corridor between the two five car sets. So the crew from the different sets can’t even meet up.
The driver also lost the ability to make GSM-R radio calls to the signaller or control due to lack of power. That includes not being able to make emergency calls.
With the Train Management System (TMS) shutting down due to the loss of power, the driver would be unlikely to receive any notification of passengers self evacuating from the train.
All this increases the stress on the train crew.
Fortunately the train failed in a location where it was possible to effect a quick recovery and this train wasn't too busy.
Eventually it arrived into Plymouth nearly four hours late (217 minutes) at 03:14.
Had this happened in a more remote location with a busier train the situation could have been far worse. There could have been serious problems.
The reporter says that they consider that this incident was entirely avoidable. That is because it was entirely predictable.
Previously the ASLEF union representatives had raised concerns repeatedly at meetings with GWR.
With the increasing problems with these trains, it was only a matter of time before a failure would occur.
The reporter fears that despite the likely response from GWR being that “lessons will be learned”, it will happen again.
The reporter feels that railway staff should not be put in these avoidable situations.
One of the GWR directors has said that we have prioritised keeping services running. That is understandable, the whole point of a passengers railway is to get them from A to B as advertised. But risking them being trapped in the middle of nowhere in the dark and the cold is not acceptable.
As more and more sets are being used in service with more GUs isolated, the risk of failure increases. The reporter says that according to Hitachi fitters (maintenance staff) the GUs are failing faster than they can be fixed. That is clearly unsustainable.
If GWR continue to try to run all services, we will run out of operational IETs.
In three weeks time GWR will no longer operate the remaining Castle class HST sets. Will there be enough 175 class units to replace them? The reporter does not think so.
GWR appears to already be in a crisis. They desperately need to do something to address that.
The reporter says that they appreciate their comments may be perceived as being negative, but it comes from the position of someone who believes in rail transport, wants it to thrive and takes pride in delivering a good service to passengers.
* Please note that I am unable to link to the source as this came to me via a message from a friend inside the railway industry.
