The first Great Western Railway electric-only train runs to and from South Wales

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

I find it fascinating that running a 387 on an 'Intercity' service as being a 'good to see' story!!!

If 387's had been proposed as the units to used on the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) for the on set there would have been screams of 'this is degrading the service'  although 387's are used on many other routes of services that could be classed 'Intercity'

The same can be said of running what is essentially a middle-distance commuter train in pairs on long distance leisure services [ (c) broadgage ] 

Broadgage would suggest that use of a 387 instead of an HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) would have been a considerable downgrade.
IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) are however a considerable downgrade if compared to an HST, and a 387 is not much worse. Both are arguably middle distance commuter trains and not inter city.

I'm glad we got that one out of the way before breakfast.

But ... how much of the traffic had become, is now, and will be in the future "middle distance" traffic and not inter-city?  I suspect that the product would benefit from change to reflect the new market as it has become and where it could be further sustainably developed.

Exactly. Passengers moving around between Reading, Swindon and Didcot, or from Bristol Parkway to Newport and Cardiff may even prefer these to an IET for ease of boarding and alighting in busy periods. Would the alternative be IET, Turbo, or no train at all?

[stuving]

At last ... a Six Nations game weekend for the 387s to help out with - and helping TfW^▸ (Transport for Wales) as much as GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). They are not running pre-match, nor through to Paddington, but are concentrating on shorter runs (Newport, Swindon, Reading). And so far only 8-car, due to SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) still not being set up for Newport yet. But then this isn't an England, match, is it?

[IndustryInsider]

Yes I posted earlier in a different thread, but this is probably the most appropriate place to post and I couldn’t find it earlier…good to see.