Great Western Trains Company Limited

Type: Subsidiary
On the web: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

Great Western Trains, which does business as First Great Western, bears passengers from London's Paddington Station to the West of England and Wales. Places served include Cardiff, Bristol, and the Cotswolds. First Great Western's trains generally run in five-car formations that seat 280 riders. It operates high-speed trains (up to 125 mph) on many of its routes. The company has been a subsidiary of rail and bus service operator FirstGroup since 1998. Originally a subsidiary of the British Railways Board, Great Western Trains was first privatized in 1996 when it was acquired by its managers and employees.

Officers:
Marketing Executive: Lisa Sampson
Public Relations: Elaine Wilde
COO: Commuter Railroads

Competitors:
Arriva
National Express Group
Stagecoach

Franchise(s):	Great Western 1996 - 1998
Main region(s):	South West, Thames Valley
Other region(s):	South Wales, Cotswolds
Fleet size:	?
Stations called at:	?
Parent company:	Great Western Trains Ltd

Great Western Trains was formed as part of the privatisation of British Rail. As with all of the original franchises, Great Western was formed as a division of British Rail prior to the franchise being let. The sector consisted of the express services out of London Paddington to the West of England and South Wales. Instead of being franchised to an existing private company, this sector was instead bought by its managers and employees in 1996 (one of the first two to be privatised after South West Trains), who named the new company Great Western Trains Ltd. The name is derived from that of the earlier Great Western Railway, which served a similar, but larger, area.

Livery

The livery for Great Western Trains consisted of an ivory lower half and green top half, with the merlin and 'InterCity' logos, later repaints omitted the InterCity logo^[1]

References

1. ^ HST in original Great Western Trains livery (Retrieved 09 October 06)

Preceded by InterCity As part of British Rail

Operator of Great Western franchise 1996 - 1998

Succeeded by First Great Western

Defunct train operating companies in the United Kingdom
InterCity:	Anglia Railways · Great Western Trains
Regional:	Arriva Trains Merseyside · Arriva Trains Northern · First North Western · Merseyrail Electrics · Northern Spirit · ScotRail · Valley Lines · Wales and Borders · Wales and West · Wessex Trains
London and South East:	Connex South Central · Connex South Eastern · First Great Eastern · First Great Western Link · Island Line · South Eastern Trains · Thameslink · Thames Trains · WAGN

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)