The Current GWR Scene

For our March Meeting, we welcomed Mark Hopwood CBE Managing Director GWR and his topic was the The current GWR Scene. The evening was in three parts, a short video, followed by the presentation and after the break a Q&A session.

The video was a short presentation on GWR to which Mark had added at the beginning an introduction from the recent four Castles event at Didcot and at the end a look at the recent changes at Paddington following the completion of the Elizabeth Line.

The current issues of lower commuter flows into London as a result of Covid were covered and it was interesting to hear that four day commuting to London had already started prior to Covid and this has now reduced to three. The largest part of GWR business is leisure travel at 60%. The recent purchase of part of Vivarail was the quick charging technology to be trialled on the West Ealing to Greenford Branch. If successful this could be introduced in short branch lines across the GWR network. The current new station projects are Reading Green Park, Marsh Barton and Portway Park and Ride. It is likely that the line from Bere Alston to Tavistock will be reopened in the future. Making these projects happen is very much due to local support in the areas concerned. Locally Improvements to Oxford and Newbury Stations are under way. Oxford will have an additional platform and both will benefit from improved facilities. The local stopping service from Oxford will from the new timetable run fast from Slough to Paddington shortening the journey time. It was noticeable that Mark is very supportive of the Elizabeth Line despite GWR trains not stopping between Slough and London.

During the Q&A session one of the subjects raised was the class 769 trains which are not now to enter service. GWR had taken the decision due to being forced to make savings by the Government. It was thought that they would have provided a satisfactory solution for the Gatwick service however would not have been as reliable as modern units. A local question raised was the subject of providing a station at Challow to serve Wantage which has been discussed for many years. The problem would be stopping fast trains so close to Didcot and increasing journey times. A possible longer term solution would be to reintroduce the Oxford to Swindon Service but at present there are no plans to do this.

It was a very enjoyable evening and the attendance was the highest since live meetings resumed. The presentation gave a good insight of the current and future plans for developing the GWR network.