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		First Great Western operate over 1500 train services a day and manage 210 stations including the commuter train services from London Paddington to destinations such as Slough, Reading, Didcot, Oxford, Newbury, Bedwyn, Hereford, Worcester and Banbury. Train services are also provided from Reading to Basingstoke, Gatwick Airport via Guildford and Dorking Deepdene, Bristol to Newport and Cardiff, and from Oxford to Bicester Town. First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup, which operates services in the west and south west of England and South Wales. Using the RailEasy™ train ticket price checker and Rail Saver reservation service to complete an online First Great Western Trains train ticket reservation is quick and easy. Rail Saver will find you the cheapest available First Great Western train ticket price and book your Great Western train tickets in a few quick easy steps using the Rail Easy™ price check and Rail Saver booking engine.

More About First Great WesternTrains

First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup, which operates services in the west and south west of England and South Wales.

First Great Western operates high speed, commuter, regional and branch line train services across the former Wessex Trains, First Great Western Link and First Great Western routes.

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 short-listed to bid for this new franchise. On 13 December 2005 it was announced that First Group had won the franchise. The new franchise has kept the name First Great Western. Originally, First planned to subdivide its services into the following three categories:

• 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'.

First Great Western Train Routes

Intercity Routes

First Great Western operate InterCity services to and from London Paddington. These are typically of the following frequency:

• Half-hourly to Cardiff Central via Bristol Parkway with an hourly continuation to Swansea.
• Half-hourly to Bath Spa & Bristol Temple Meads.
• Hourly to Exeter & Plymouth, with five trains daily running beyond Plymouth to Penzance in Cornwall.
• Roughly every two hours to Cheltenham & Gloucester.

Nearly all high-speed trains on the Great Western network stop at Reading. Swindon is currently served by all trains to Bristol & South Wales, with Didcot stops by one train per hour on each route.

Cardiff Central, Newport and Bristol Parkway are served by all South Wales services, meaning a train departs from London for Bristol every 15 minutes.

Almost all trains from Paddington to Plymouth call at Taunton, with some services also stopping at Newbury, Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary. Once a day in each direction (early morning to London and late evening from) HST services also call at local stations between Bristol and Taunton, including Nailsea & Backwell, Yatton for Clevedon, Highbridge & Burnham on Sea and Bridgwater.

First Great Western also provides a limited number of intercity services to Paignton, Newquay (summer Saturdays and Sundays only), Carmarthen, Pembroke Dock (summer Saturdays only), Oxford, Worcester, and Hereford. First Great Western withdrew its services to Fishguard Harbour in 2003.

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

• The Bristolian (London-Bristol)
• Cathedrals Express (London-Hereford)
• Cheltenham Spa Express (London-Cheltenham)
• Cornish Riviera Express (London-Penzance)
• The Golden Hind (London-Penzance)
• The Mayflower (London-Plymouth)
• Night Riviera (London-Penzance "sleeper")
• The Red Dragon (London-Swansea)
• The Royal Duchy (London-Penzance)
• The Saint David (London-Swansea)
  

Intercity services are announced at stations fitted with the Great Western Customer Information System as the 'First Great Western High Speed' services.

First Great Western Trains Commuter Routes

The new 'super' franchise came into effect on 1st April 2006, and the Thames commuter routes, Inter City and Local services were combined to create "Greater Western", with all trains bearing the "First Great Western" name.

Routes served under this franchise by First Great Western are:

• Great Western Main Line
• Greenford Branch Line
• Cotswold Line
• North Downs Line
• Henley Branch Line ("Regatta Line")
• Cherwell Valley Line
• Oxford to Bicester Line
• Slough to Windsor & Eton Line

First Great Western Trains Local Routes

Local trains run on a range of north-south routes from Cardiff, Gloucester and Worcester in the north to Weymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton in the south. Many of these services run via Bristol, which acts as the hub of the network.

The company also runs the local routes and branch lines in Devon and Cornwall, such as the Newquay and St Ives holiday lines, and the Devon network of branches to Exmouth, Paignton and Barnstaple.

When First acquired the local franchise in 2006, it considered starting the Cardiff–Portsmouth Harbour trains from Rhoose Cardiff International Airport Station, calling also at Barry before Cardiff Central—however this option was not adopted.

Local main line and branch line routes served by First Great Western trains are:

First Great Western Train Main Lines

The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington station to Temple Meads station in Bristol.

• Great Western Main Line (London-Bristol-Exeter-Plymouth-Penzance)
• South Wales Main Line (Bristol-Cardiff-Swansea-West Wales)
• Wessex Main Line (Bristol-Bath-Salisbury-Southampton)
• West Coastway Line (Southampton-Portsmouth-Brighton)

First Great Western Train Branch Lines

• Atlantic Coast Line (Par-Newquay)
• Avocet Line (Exeter-Exmouth)
• Golden Valley Line (Swindon-Gloucester)
• Heart of Wessex Line (Westbury-Weymouth)
• Looe Valley Line (Liskeard-Looe)
• Maritime Line (Truro-Falmouth)
• Riviera Line (Exeter-Paignton)
• Severn Beach Line (Bristol-Avonmouth-Severn Beach)
• St Ives Bay Line (St. Erth-St. Ives)
• Tamar Valley Line (Plymouth-Gunnislake)
• Tarka Line (Exeter-Barnstaple)
• The Tarka, Riviera and Avocet lines operate as a network known internally as the 'Devon Metro'

First Great Western Community Project

The First Great Western Community Project is an ongoing initiative by First Great Western, giving something back to local charities, voluntary organisations and schools in the areas it serves, through donations and charity activity.

Over the last five years, First Great Western has donated thousands of pounds through financial support and complimentary train tickets to over 300 charities.

Through supporting the communities of some of the 70 million passengers carried across the network every year in South Wales, the West Country, the Cotswolds and large parts of Southern England, the Project has provided assistance to schools, hospitals, aged care facilities, and various other community organisations in need of support.

First Great Western Trains Into The Future

It is planned to extend electrification from Airport Junction to Maidenhead (and possibly Reading) in connection with the Crossrail scheme, however privatisation of the railways has brought rail electrification in Britain to a virtual stop.

Traffic levels on the Great Western Main Line are rising faster than national average, with continued increases predicted. The now defunct Strategic Rail Authority produced a Route Utilisation Strategy for the Great Western Main Line in 2005 to propose ways of meeting this demand and Network Rail plan to implement a new study in 2008.

In the meantime, their 2007 Business Plan highlights the large number of delays that can be reduced by improving the quality of the track, to which end a major renewal programme is underway from bases as Reading and Taunton.

Further capacity improvements are also scheduled at Swindon, adding to recent changes and the new Platform 4. Some of the speed restrictions on the relief lines between Reading and London will be raised so that 86% of the line can be used at 90 mph (144 km/h).

Other more distant aspirations include resignalling and capacity improvements at Reading; the provision of four continuous tracks between Didcot and Swindon (including a grade-separated junction at Milton, where the down (westbound) relief line switches from the north side of the line to the south); and resignalling between Bath and Bristol to enable trains to run closer together.

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