First Great Western

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First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd[1], a British train operating company owned by First Group, which operates services principally on the Great Western Main Line.

The company was formed as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Instead of being franchised to an existing private company, this sector was instead bought by its managers in 1996 (one of the first two to be privatised), who named the new company Great Western Trains. The name is derived from that of the earlier Great Western Railway, which served a similar, but larger, area.

In 1998, the bus operator First Group acquired Great Western, along with its subsidiary North Western Trains (later First North Western), and re-branded it with its present name.

On 1st April 2006, First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains combined into the new Greater Western Franchise. First were announced as the operator of the combined franchise in December 2005 for a 10-year period.

Contents

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Intercity Routes

First Great Western operate InterCity services from London Paddington to Cardiff and Swansea; Bath and Bristol; Exeter, Plymouth, Truro, and Penzance; and Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Principal intermediary stations served are Reading (all long-distance trains running west from Paddington pass through Reading, though some do not stop; from December 2006, all trains will call at Reading [2]), Didcot, Swindon (served by trains to Bristol and Cardiff) and Newport, and Westbury and Taunton on the Reading–Taunton direct route. First Great Western also provides a limited number of services to Paignton, Newquay (summer Saturdays and Sundays only), Carmarthen, Pembroke Dock (summer Saturdays only), Oxford, Worcester, and Hereford.

First Great Western operate a number of named passenger trains, including:

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Commuter Routes

Image:166217 at Reading.JPG First Great Western operate commuter services from Paddington Station to destinations such as Slough, Reading, Didcot, Oxford, Newbury, Bedwyn, Hereford, Worcester and Banbury. Train services are also provided from Reading to Basingstoke and Gatwick Airport via Guildford and Dorking. Prior to April 2006 the franchise for commuter serverices was separate from the intercity services. Originally it was was held by the GoAhead Group, trading as Thames Trains, then the franchise was transferred to First Group, trading as First Great Western Link

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Local Routes

Image:Wessex Alphaline 158863.jpg First Great Western run the majority of local trains in the South West.

Local trains run on north-south routes from Cardiff and Gloucester in the north and Weymouth and Brighton in the south to Bristol and Bath. The company also runs the local routes and branch lines in Devon and Cornwall, such as the Newquay, Exmouth and St Ives holiday lines.

For a fuller description of the routes operated by First Great Western, see the following links.

Image:First Great Western HST Standard Class Quiet Carriage.jpg The company operated the last Motorail service, as part of the London Paddington–Penzance Night Riviera overnight sleeper service. However this was withdrawn at the end of the summer season in 2005

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Management and operations

In 2004–2005, 22.3 million passenger journeys were made on First Great Western, and passengers travelled 2,718 million kilometres, an average journey length of 121 kilometres.

Performance is improving, and in 2004-2005, 79.6% of trains arrived on time (defined as within 10 minutes of their scheduled arrival time).

First Great Western have three major depots: Old Oak Common, two miles from Paddington; Laira, near Plymouth; and St Phillips Marsh, near Bristol Temple Meads, with smaller depots at Penzance, Landore and Exeter.

The current Managing Director of First Great Western is Alison Forster. Other directors are Glenda Lamont (Customer Service), Graham Boot-Handford (Engineering), Ben Caswell (Finance), Kevin Gale (Trains), Tom Stables (Commerical Services) and Dawn Murphy (Human Resources). The non-executive chairman is Sir Chay Blyth. Previous Managing Directors have included Chris Kinchin-Smith and Mike Carroll (who is now Managing Director of First Info, a subsidiary of First Group).

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Rolling stock

Image:180110 at Bath Spa.JPG

  • Class 43 High Speed Train - Used for long-distance express services
  • Class 57 locomotive - Used for sleepers and Motorail
  • Class 180 ‘Adelante’ diesel multiple unit used for semi-fast services - (Required until the end of 2007 at latest - being returned to lease company once enough refurbished HSTs are available)
  • Class 143 - Two-coach Pacer railbus used on suburban services around Bristol (ex Wessex Trains)
  • Class 150 - Two-coach DMU used on most local services (ex Wessex Trains)
  • Class 153 - Diesel railcar used to strengthen services and on some branch lines (ex Wessex Trains)
  • Class 158 - Two-coach DMU (some three-coach, made of 1 and a half units) used on regional services (ex Wessex Trains)
  • Class 165 - Two- or three-coach Turbo DMU used on commuter services to London (ex First Great Western Link)
  • Class 166 - Three-coach Turbo DMU used on longer commuter services to London (ex First Great Western Link)
  • Class 360 - Four-coach EMU (being strengthend to five coaches) used on Heathrow Connect services (ex First Great Western Link, joint operation with BAA)
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Accidents

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Greater Western franchise

Image:Newcolours2.jpg On 1 April 2006, First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains combined into the new Greater Western franchise. Three companies — First Group plc, National Express Group PLC, and Stagecoach Group— were shortlisted to bid for this new franchise. On 13 December 2005 it was announced that First Group had won the franchise [3].

The new franchise has kept the name First Great Western. Originally, First planned to subdivide its services into the following three categories: [4]

  • First Great Western Express - the original First Great Western route: London Paddington–Bristol–South Wales/Cornwall.
  • First Great Western Link - former Thames Trains services, that were merged into First Great Western before the Greater Western Franchise started. Local/commuter trains close to London.
  • First Great Western Local - former Wessex Trains services: regional trains in the south-west in and around Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall.

Following feedback from staff and stakeholders, the decision was taken to re-brand and re-livery all services as just 'First Great Western'.[5]


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Timetable Controversy

The draft timetable for the new franchise has been published on the Great Western website. The timetable is currently open to consultation, and features cuts to local services, especially in the West Country. A document leaked to The Times newspaper suggested the cuts were ordered by the Department for Transport. The DfT denied any such order had been made and tried to put the blame onto First Group.

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Stock Cuts

In addition First have been unable to obtain extra stock for local services, as the DfT is refusing to underwrite the additonal leasing costs (as required under the franchise regime) after forcing the leasing companies to supply Pacers at a dramatically reduced rate for use on West Country branch lines. This is despite the failed attempt to operate Pacers on the sharply curved branches in the 1980s. It is likley that some Turbos will be put into store, having been displaced on longer runs by HSTs. The three car Class 158s will be reformed as two-car sets

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HST Refubishment

26 of Great Western's HST fleet are to be refurbished into a high density layout of mostly airline seats for services in the M4 corridor to Bristol and Cardiff, and to improve acceleration the buffet cars will be removed. The remainder will be refurbished with new seating (leather in First Class) and at-seat power points. Buffets will be retained for long distance services to Swansea and the West Country.

The new franchise will involve re-painting the fleet in First Group’s new 'dynamic lines' livery.


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See also

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External links

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