Record-breaking rail journey
A NEW Cardiff to London Paddington speed record has been set by train operator Great Western Railway as it prepares for the introduction of a new timetable and quicker journeys.
GWR’s bullet-style Intercity Express Train (IET) took just 1 hour 33 minutes 44 seconds to travel a little over the 145 miles from Cardiff to London Paddington, eclipsing the previous record of 1 hour 37 minutes 37 seconds. That was set by a high speed train on August 2, 1988, and came before the introduction of safer driving practices and speed restrictions in 2008.
Today’s speed record is the third to be posted in the past month as GWR celebrates the earlier publication of its 15 December timetable. The biggest timetable change on the network since 1976 will offer faster journey times and more frequent services to key locations, and will save up to 17 minutes on journeys between Cardiff and London Paddington.
Yesterday’s special run left Swansea at 1248 and Cardiff at 1346 – arriving into London Paddington at 1520.
GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood was accompanied on board the service by special guests and media.
He said: “This has been a memorable journey and shows just what our Intercity Express Trains are capable of.
“We have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare to implement the biggest timetable change on this network since the 1970s, enabling us to take advantage of the full benefits that new Intercity Express Trains are bringing.
“In providing more frequent and quicker journeys our new timetable will, for the vast majority of users, quite literally mean ‘all change please’ and we are pleased the new timetable has now been published.”
Changes will mean typical journey times on the company’s popular twice-hourly Cardiff-London service will be shortened by 14 minutes to just 1 hour 53 minutes.
A new, super-fast third hourly service will run at the busiest times of day, running non-stop between Bristol Parkway and Paddington and allowing customers to travel from capital to capital as quickly as 1 hour 42 minutes, 17 minutes faster than today.
These will run in the morning and evening peaks from December; and are planned to be rolled out throughout the day in May 2020.