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.

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

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.</p>

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

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First Group railway companies

1996 establishments in England