Great Western Railway (2015)

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Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway logo
Great Western Railway High Speed ​​Train
Basic information
company Great Western Railway Ltd.
Concession
and duration
InterCity Great Western
February 4, 1996 -
March 31, 2006
Greater Western
April 1, 2006 -
March 30, 2019
Parent company First Group
statistics
fleet 119 British Class 43 for
54 High Speed ​​Train Sets
4 British Class 57 Diesel Locomotives
8 British Class 143
45 British Class 150
12 British Class 153
16 British Class 158
36 British Class 165
21 BR Class 166
5 British Class 180
8 British Class 387
Train stations over 270 (208 managed)
Main regions South West , South East
Secondary regions Wales , Cotswolds
website
www.gwr.com/

Great Western Railway Ltd is a UK rail company of the First Group and operates rail lines from London to the west of England and Wales . The main route is the Great Western Main Line .

The company was formed in 1996 as part of the gradual privatization of British Rail . The concession did not go to an existing private railway company, but was acquired through a management buyout . The company was named Great Western Trains. The name is derived from the Great Western Railway , which was one of the four large private railway companies in Great Britain until nationalization in 1948 and served a similar but slightly larger area.

In 1998, Great Western Trains was acquired by the First Group bus company and was named First Great Western. On April 1, 2006, the concessions of First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains were merged and put out to tender. In addition to the First Group, the National Express Group and the Stagecoach Group also applied . In December 2005, First Group was awarded the contract for a further ten years. On September 20, 2015, the company changed its name to Great Western Railway.

Route network

InterCity

Great Western Railway operates InterCity trains from London Paddington Station to Cardiff and Swansea , Bristol , Exeter , Plymouth and Penzance, and Cheltenham and Gloucester . Other important stations are Reading (where all Great Western Railway InterCity trains stop), Didcot , Swindon , Newport , Westbury and Taunton . Great Western Railway also operates some InterCity trains to Oxford , Worcester and Hereford , and on weekends to Paignton and Newquay .

Suburban and regional traffic

Great Western Railway local trains run from London Paddington Station to Slough , Maidenhead , Reading, Didcot, Oxford, Newbury, Bedwyn , Hereford, Worcester and Banbury . Local trains run from Reading to Basingstoke and via Guildford and Dorking to Gatwick Airport .

Before April 1, 2006, the concession for suburban traffic was separate from the concession for intercity traffic. Originally it was owned by the GoAhead Group under the brand name Thames Trains . The First Group took over the concession at the end of March 2004 and operated the routes until the end of March 2006 under the name First Great Western Link .

The Great Western Railway is also responsible for almost all regional traffic in the South West England region.

stretch

Main lines

Branch lines

  • Atlantic Coast Line (Par – Newquay)
  • Avocet Line (Exeter – Exmouth)
  • Golden Valley Line (Swindon – Gloucester)
  • Heart of Wessex Line (Westbury – Weymouth)
  • Looe Valley Line (Liskeard – Looe)
  • Maritime Line (Truro – Falmouth)
  • Riviera Line (Exeter – Paignton)
  • Severn Beach Line (St. Erth – St. Ives)
  • Tamar Valley Line (Plymouth – Gunnislake)
  • Tarka Line (Exeter – Barnstaple)

business

Diesel multiple unit Class 158 "Express Sprinter"

In the 2004/05 financial year, 22.3 million passengers were carried on the First Great Western network. A total of 2.718 million passenger kilometers were registered, which corresponds to an average journey length of 121 kilometers. 79.6% of all trains were less than 10 minutes late. This value is a low one, even by British standards.

The Great Western Railway has three main workshops: Old Oak Common (three and a half kilometers west of Paddington), Laira near Plymouth and St Phillips Marsh near Bristol Temple Meads Station. Other smaller workshops are located in Penzance, Landore and Exeter.

Rolling stock

Class 180 diesel multiple unit in Bath
Existing vehicles
model series image Type V / max passenger
cars
number
British class 43 Bristol Temple Meads - GWR 43187 at platform 13.JPG Diesel locomotive 200 km / h 119
British class Mark 3 Bristol Temple Meads - GWR Mk3 41146.JPG Passenger cars 464
FGW MK3 Coach.jpg
British class 57 57605 (1C99) by Worcestershed.jpg Diesel locomotive 152 km / h 4th
British Class Mark 3 Sleeper Bristol Temple Meads - GWR Mk3 41146.JPG Passenger cars 200 km / h 50
BR class 143 Hugh llewelyn 143 611 (6636668523) .jpg Railcar (diesel) 120 km / h 2 8th
British class 150/0 Reading - FGW 150001 in platform 1.jpg 3 2
British class 150/1 150104 FGW Swindon.JPG 2 15th
British class 150/2 150233 - Newton Abbot Station.jpg 2 19th
British class 150/9 Taunton - FGW 150925 up train.JPG 3 3
British class 153 Nailsea and Backwell railway station MMB 40 150239 153380.jpg 1 14th
BR class 158 Keynsham station 30.jpg 145 km / h 2 2
3 13
British class 165 Twyford - FGW 165113.JPG 2 20th
3 16
Class 165 First Great Western Diagram.PNG
BR class 166 166208 in GWR by Chris Warman.jpg Railcar (diesel) 145 km / h 3 21st
British class 180 Class 180 at London Paddington by Jeremy Segrott.jpg 200 km / h 5 5
British class 387 Class 387 at Luton.jpg Railcar ( electric ) 177 km / h 4th 8th
Future fleet
model series image Type V / max passenger
cars
number
British class 387 Class 387 at Luton.jpg Railcar ( electric ) 177 km / h 4th 37
British class 800 GWR Class 800 (800 004) at London Paddington.jpg Diesel-electric drive 225 km / h 5 36
GWR Super Express Train.jpg 9 21st
British class 802 Hitachi AT300 for WoE Paddington 20150320 HIRES.jpg 5 22nd
9 14th

Web links

Commons : First Great Western  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Press release GWR: First Great Western Becomes Great Western Railway as Part of Historic Re-brand