Great Western Railway (train operating company)

Great Western Railway, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup, which has services in the west and south west of England and South Wales. It also runs the Night Riviera overnight train between London and Penzance.

Great Western Railway

Info
Franchise(s):	InterCity Great Western 4 February 1996 – 31 March 2006 Greater Western 1 April 2006 – 31 March 2020
Main {{{nameforarea}}}(s):	London, Thames Valley, South West England, South Wales
Other {{{nameforarea}}}(s):	West Midlands, South East England
Stations called at:	over 270
Stations operated:	197
Route km operated:	2129.2
National Rail abbreviation:	GW
Parent company:	FirstGroup
Web site:	www.gwr.com
Route map Route map

Near the end of January 2010, First Great Western said that an £8,000,000 refresh programme to their fleet of Class 166 Turbo DMU trains would happen. In February 2021, GWR announced to purchase Class 319 “FLEX” units to replace the 158, 387, 165 and 166.

History

File:Trains at Hungerford Station - geograph.org.uk - 1353108.jpg

Trains in the current First Great Western livery.

The company began operating on 4 February 1996 as Great Western Trains, as part of the privatisation of British Rail, and in December 1998 became First Great Western after FirstGroup bought the company. On 1 April 2006, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains were combined into First Great Western. On 20 September 2015, FirstGroup started to operate an extended franchise that is due to run until 30 March 2019.

Train services

Great Western Railway runs most passenger train services on the Great Western main line.

Rolling stock

• 119 Class 43 for 52 High Speed Train and 1 Castle set
• 4 British Rail Class 57 diesel locomotives
• 8 British Rail Class 143 Pacer sets
• 19 British Rail Class 150 Sprinter sets
• 12 British Rail Class 153 Super-Sprinter sets
• 16 British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter sets
• 36 British Rail Class 165 Network Turbo sets
• 21 British Rail Class 166 Network Express Turbo
• 45 British Rail Class 387 Electrostar sets
• 57 British Rail Class 800 "InterCity Express Trains" sets

Great Western Railway (train Operating Company) Media

• Great Western Railway network.svg

  Great Western Railway network

• 09 014 Bf London Paddington, 43 186 Great Western.jpg

  An InterCity 125 as operated by the original Great Western Trains franchise in 1996-1998

• 166217 at Reading.JPG

  First Great Western Link operated the Thames Trains franchise from April 2004 until it was absorbed into the Greater Western franchise in 2006.

• Class 800 First Class.jpg

  First class interior on a GWR Intercity Express Train

• Class 802 Interior.jpg

  Standard-class interior on a GWR Intercity Express Train

• GWR 800004 (811004) leading bogie.JPG

  A Class 800

  bogie. The white casting at the top is attached to the body and has the triangular yaw damper bracket on the left and the lifting pad is at the top of the square fixture to the right.
  

• Oxford - GWR 800301 London service.JPG

  Class 800 at Oxford

• Tiverton Parkway - GWR 802110 Plymouth service.JPG

  Class 802 at Tiverton Parkway

• St Philip's Marsh - GWR 57603.JPG

  Class 57 locomotive at St Philip's Marsh depot

• General Railway Pictures 2017 496.jpg

  Class 165 on Basingstoke service

Related pages

• Great Western Railway

References

Preceded by Great Western Trains	Operator of Great Western franchise 1998 – N/A	Succeeded by TBA
Preceded by Intercity (British rail)	Operator of Greater Western franchise 2006 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by 'First Great Western Link' Thames franchise
Preceded by 'Wessex Trains' Wessex franchise