🇬🇧 Operator
Train routes operated by Great Western Railway
5 routes · classic 4 · night train 1
Great Western Railway runs 5 of the routes in the World Train Map atlas, 1,518 km of railway across 1 country. The longest is the Night Riviera at 491 km; the fastest is the Cornish Riviera Express, running up to 200 km/h; the oldest line it runs over here opened in 1841.
The company itself dates to 1833, filed on Wikidata as a train operating company. What this page says about the company comes from Great Western Railway's own Wikidata item, checked against the countries its routes here actually cross before any of it is used; everything about the railway is counted from this atlas. Official site ↗ · Wikipedia ↗ · Wikidata Q1419438 ↗
Open the world railway map →- Routes here
- 5
- Total length
- 1,518 km
- Countries
- United Kingdom
- Longest
- Night Riviera · 491 km
- Oldest line here
- 1841
- Company founded
- 1833
- Type
- train operating company
- Fastest
- Cornish Riviera Express · 200 km/h
Classic (4)
- Cornish Riviera Express
The daytime flyer to Britain’s far south-west since 1904, racing 300 miles past Dartmoor and along the wave-battered Dawlish sea wall to Penzance.
Wikipedia ↗ - South Wales Main Line
GWR’s flagship South Wales express; Hitachi bi-modes drop off the 25 kV wires west of Cardiff and switch to diesel for the last dash to Swansea.
Wikipedia ↗ - Great Western Main Line
Brunel’s original 1841 main line: billiard-table levels from Paddington to Didcot, then a 1 in 100 fall through the 3 km Box Tunnel, said to face the sunrise on his birthday.
Wikipedia ↗ - Dartmoor Line
The first line reopened under Britain’s Restoring Your Railway plan, bringing regular trains back to Okehampton on the edge of Dartmoor half a century after closure.
Wikipedia ↗
Night train (1)
- Night Riviera
Sleeping cars have run west from Paddington since 1877; today’s train hugs Brunel’s storm-lashed Dawlish sea wall to the far tip of Cornwall.
Wikipedia ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons — each route page credits the author & licence
How many train routes does Great Western Railway run?
5 of the routes in this atlas are Great Western Railway services, covering 1,518 km across 1 country (United Kingdom). That is what this atlas draws, not the operator's whole network — a national railway runs thousands of local services no map of notable journeys would list.
What is the fastest Great Western Railway train?
The Cornish Riviera Express, London to Penzance, at up to 200 km/h. Its fastest scheduled run takes 5 h over 491 km.
Does Great Western Railway run night trains?
Yes — 1 sleeper service in this atlas: Night Riviera (London – Penzance).
When was Great Western Railway founded?
Wikidata records the company's inception as 1833, and files it as a train operating company. The oldest railway it runs over in this atlas opened in 1841 — the line and the company are rarely the same age, and this page dates both.
Countries Great Western Railway runs in
- 🇬🇧 Train routes in United Kingdom 75 routes
Other operators in United Kingdom
- Transport for Wales 14 routes
- ScotRail 7 routes
- Northern 5 routes
- Avanti West Coast 4 routes
- Eurostar 4 routes
- Belmond 3 routes
- East Midlands Railway 3 routes
- Southeastern 3 routes