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On this day
13th Apr (1854)
First (broad gauge) train ran complete line from Oxford via Worcester to Wolverhampton (link)
Train RunningCancelled
13/04/25 08:23 London Paddington to Swansea
13/04/25 08:29 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
13/04/25 09:35 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
09:38 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill
13/04/25 09:55 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington
13/04/25 10:49 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
13/04/25 11:27 Carmarthen to London Paddington
13/04/25 11:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
13/04/25 11:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street
13/04/25 12:30 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
12:32 London Paddington to Paignton
13:21 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
13/04/25 14:00 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon
15:42 Exeter St Davids to Cardiff Central
13/04/25 16:35 London Paddington to Swansea
18:15 Penzance to Plymouth
19:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton
19:29 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
Short Run
08:15 Penzance to London Paddington
09:22 Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth Harbour
13/04/25 10:02 London Paddington to Penzance
12:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
13:41 London Paddington to Great Malvern
13/04/25 14:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
13/04/25 15:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
17:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
20:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
20:11 Exeter Central to Barnstaple
Delayed
18:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 22:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central
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Great Western Coffee Shop > Sideshoots - associated subjects > Railway History and related topics > OTD - 4th February (1996) - First rail franchises take over
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Author Topic: OTD - 4th February (1996) - First rail franchises take over  (Read 1226 times)
grahame
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« on: February 03, 2022, 22:36:41 »
The very first rail franchise started in 4th February 1996 - Stagecoach for South West Trains and Great Western Holdings for the Great Western franchise which at that time was the intercity services - Thames Trains and the Wales and West frachises were awarded later.

South West Trains was modified to add in the Island Line; Great Westerns was taken over by First, and then Thames Trains and Wessex, which had split from Wales and West was added to it. Stagecoach lost the rebid in 2017 and First Group (70%) and MTR▸ (Mass Transit Railway, based in Hong Kong) (30%) took over.

I'm not sure I like the instability of changes - but then passenger numbers have grown over the 26 years like never befor, so can it all be bad?  Would it have grown all the better with more stability, or grown stale and not grown so much?
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