Great Western Railway (train operating company)

First Greater Western Ltd, trading as Great Western Railway, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that provides services in the Greater Western franchise area. It manages 198 stations. GWR operates long-distance inter-city services along the Great Western Main Line to and from the West of England and South Wales, inter-city services from London to the West Country via the Reading–Taunton line, and the Night Riviera sleeper service between London and Penzance. It provides outer-suburban services in West London; commuter services from its London terminus at to the Thames Valley region, including parts of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire; and regional services throughout the West of England and South Wales to the South coast of England. Great Western Railway also serves two of London's airports: Heathrow, through its operation of the Heathrow Express service, and Gatwick, on its North Downs Line route.
The company began operating in February 1996 as Great Western Trains, as part of the privatisation of British Rail. In December 1998, it became First Great Western after FirstGroup bought out its partners' shares in Great Western Holdings. In April 2006, First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains were combined into the new Greater Western franchise and brought under the First Great Western brand. The company adopted its current name and a new livery in September 2015 to coincide with the start of a newly extended contract that was subsequently extended to run until June 2028.

History

As part of the privatisation of British Rail, the Great Western InterCity franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to Great Western Holdings in December 1995, and it began operations on 4 February 1996. Great Western Holdings was owned by some former British Rail managers, FirstBus and 3i.
In March 1998, FirstGroup bought out its partners' stakes to give it 100% ownership. In December 1998, the franchise was rebranded First Great Western.
On 1 April 2004, First Great Western Link began operating the Thames Trains franchise. It ran local services from Paddington to,,,,,,,,, and. It also operated services from Reading to , and from Reading to.
On 1 April 2006, the Great Western, Great Western Link and Wessex Trains franchises were combined into a new Greater Western franchise. FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach were shortlisted to bid for it. On 13 December 2005, it was announced that FirstGroup had won the franchise. Originally, First planned to subdivide its services into three categories based on routes. Following feedback from staff and stakeholders, the decision was taken to re-brand and re-livery all services as 'First Great Western'.
In May 2011, FirstGroup announced that it had decided not to take up the option to extend its franchise beyond the end of March 2013. It stated that, in the light of the £1billion plan to electrify the Great Western route from London via Bristol to Cardiff, it wished to try to negotiate a longer-term deal. CEO Tim O'Toole said: "We believe we are best placed to manage these projects and capture the benefits through a longer-term franchise."
By not taking up the option to extend its original franchise contract for a further three years, FirstGroup avoided having to pay £826.6million to the government; it received extra subsidies totalling £133million from the government in 2010.
In March 2012, Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach were shortlisted to bid for the new franchise. The winner was expected to be announced in December 2012, with the new franchisee taking over in April 2013. But it was announced in July 2012 that the franchise would be extended, due to the late issue of the invitation to tender. The ITT ran from the end of July until October 2012. The winner would have been announced in March 2013, and taken on the franchise from 21 July 2013 until the end of July 2028. The new franchise would include the introduction of new Intercity Express Trains, capacity enhancements and smart ticketing. The award of the franchise was again delayed in October 2012, while the Department for Transport reviewed the way rail franchises were awarded.
In January 2013, the government announced that the current competition for the franchise had been aborted, and that FirstGroup's contract had been extended until October 2013. A two-year franchise extension until September 2015 was agreed in October 2013, and subsequently extended until March 2019. A further extension to April 2019 was granted in March 2015.
The refurbishment of first-class carriages in 2014 included interiors that featured a new GWR logo, with no First branding. The whole company was rebranded Great Western Railway on 20 September 2015, with the introduction of a green livery in recognition of the former Great Western Railway which existed between 1835 and 1947. The new livery was introduced when HST interiors were refurbished, and on sleeper carriages and Class 57/6 locomotives.
In May 2018, TfL Rail which later became the Elizabeth line took over services from Paddington to, and then some stopping services to Reading in December 2019, becoming part of the Elizabeth line service.
In March 2020, the DfT awarded a further extension to 31 March 2023.
In June 2022, the DfT replaced the franchise agreement with a direct award contract that expires on 25 June 2028, with an option to extend for a further three years.
GWR was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes, which were the first national rail strikes in the UK for three decades.

Routes

Great Western Railway operates routes west of London including those towards south west England such as Wiltshire, Bristol, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, as well as Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hereford and South Wales.
The following is a simplified list of regular off-peak weekday service from the June 2024 timetables.

Intercity

Thames Valley

Bristol

West of England

Named trains

Great Western Railway's named passenger trains include:

Name	Origin	Destination
The Armada	Plymouth	London Paddington
The Atlantic Coast Express	London Paddington	Newquay
The Bristolian	London Paddington	Bristol Temple Meads
The Capitals United	Swansea	London Paddington
The Cathedrals Express	Hereford	London Paddington
The Cheltenham Spa Express	London Paddington	Cheltenham Spa
The Cornishman	Penzance	London Paddington
The Cornish Riviera	London Paddington	Penzance
Cotswolds and Malvern Express	London Paddington	Hereford
The Devon Express	London Paddington	Paignton
The Flying Carolean	London Paddington	Swansea
The Golden Hind	Penzance	London Paddington
The Mayflower	London Paddington	Plymouth
The Merchant Venturer	London Paddington	Bristol Temple Meads or Weston-super-Mare
The Night Riviera	London Paddington	Penzance
The Pembroke Coast Express	London Paddington	Pembroke Dock
The Red Dragon	London Paddington	Carmarthen
The Royal Duchy	London Paddington	Penzance
The Saint David	London Paddington	Swansea
The Torbay Express	London Paddington	Paignton
Y Cymro – The Welshman	Swansea	London Paddington

Onboard services

Pullman Dining

GWR operates restaurant cars on certain West Country and Wales trains to or from London Paddington. They are available to first-class and standard-class passengers, though only first-class passengers may make advance reservations, and they have priority over seats in the restaurant. Meals in the restaurant car are not included in the price of rail tickets.

First class

GWR has first class on all its long-distance high-speed services. First class on the IETs includes fabric reclining seating with tables at every seat, as well as an at-seat service provided by a customer host on most journeys. Unlike the previous HSTs, the IETs do not have leather first-class seating due to fire regulations. Like the HSTs, there are power sockets and USB charging points at every seat. There is Wi-Fi throughout the first class-carriages, which GWR describes as 'upgraded'.

Standard class

Standard class is provided on all services. Many services on long-distance and regional routes have specific seat reservations.

Trolley service

An at-seat trolley service is scheduled to operate on most IET services, with a trolley in each portion of a ten-coach train. This is different from the HSTs, which had buffet counters branded as 'Express Cafes'.

Performance

Disabled passengers

In July 2018, a disabled woman was threatened by Great Western Railway staff with police action and removal from the train she was travelling in, for using a disabled space for her mobility scooter. Canadian-born comedian Tanyalee Davis, who has a form of dwarfism, said she was humiliated when a Great Western Railway conductor made an announcement that she was "causing problems" which had delayed the train. The incident occurred after a woman travelling with a young child demanded that Davis make way for her pram. GWR said the incident should not have happened and "No one travelling with us should be left feeling like this".