Great Western Railway (train operating company)

First Great Western, 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

A Pair of FGW Class 800 Intercity Express Trains passing by Swindon
Overview
Franchise(s)	InterCity Great Western 4 February 1996 – 31 March 2006 Greater Western 1 April 2006 – 31 March 2020[1]
Main region(s)	London, Thames Valley, South West England, South Wales
Other region(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
Website	www.gwr.com
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

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^[2] 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

First Great Western 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

Related pages

• Great Western Railway

References

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/574792/december-2016-rail-franchise-schedule.pdf
2. Companies House extract company no 5113733 First Greater Western Limited

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