The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the original route of the first Great Western Railway which was merged into the Western Region of British Railways in 1948. It is now a part of the national rail system managed by Network Rail with the majority of passenger services provided by the current Great Western Railway franchise.
Severn Tunnel Junction railway station is a minor station on the western side of the Severn Tunnel in the village of Rogiet, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is 123.5 miles (198.8 km) from London Paddington and lies at the junction of the South Wales Main Line from London and the Gloucester to Newport Line.
The Golden Valley line is the popular name given to the railway line between Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa in England.
Gloucester, formerly known as Gloucester Central, is a railway station serving the city of Gloucester in England. It is located 114 miles 4 chains (183.5 km) west of London Paddington, via Stroud.
Stonehouse railway station serves the town of Stonehouse in Gloucestershire, England. The station is a stop on the Golden Valley Line between Swindon and Gloucester; it is located 104 miles 74 chains (168.9 km) down the line from London Paddington.
Stroud railway station serves the market town of Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. It is a stop on the Gloucester–Swindon Golden Valley Line and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is located 102 miles 13 chains (164.4 km) west of London Paddington.
Kemble railway station is a railway station that serves the village of Kemble in Gloucestershire, England. The station is on the Swindon to Gloucester "Golden Valley" line, 90 miles 79 chains (146.4 km) from the zero point at Paddington. Despite its rural location, Kemble station has a high number of passengers, due mainly to the proximity of Cirencester.
The Gloucester–Newport line is a railway line that runs along the west bank of the River Severn in the United Kingdom between Gloucester and Newport.
The South Wales Main Line, originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the core London-Bristol line at Royal Wootton Bassett beyond Swindon, first calling at Bristol Parkway, after which the line continues through the Severn Tunnel into South Wales.
Swindon railway station is on the Great Western Main Line in South West England, serving the town of Swindon, Wiltshire. The station is 77 miles 23 chains down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and lies between Didcot Parkway and Chippenham. It is managed by Great Western Railway, which also operates all of the services from the station.
The Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway was a railway company intended to link Cheltenham, Gloucester and Swindon, in England. It was authorised in 1836 but it found it very hard to raise money for the construction, and it opened only a part of its line, between Swindon and Cirencester, in 1841. It sold its business to the Great Western Railway, which quickly built the line through to Gloucester in 1845 and Cheltenham in 1847; part of that route was shared with other companies.
Rail services in the West of England refer to passenger rail journeys made in the Bristol commuter area. 17 million passenger rail journeys were made in 2019-20 within the Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath region.
In the 2010s Network Rail modernised the Great Western Main Line, the South Wales Main Line, and other associated lines. The modernisation plans were announced at separate times but their implementation overlapped in the 2010s.
Wootton Bassett Junction railway station, formerly Wootton Bassett railway station, was a junction station in Wootton Bassett where the Great Western and South Wales Main Lines diverge. Opened in 1841, it closed in 1965.
The Cirencester branch line was a five-mile-long single-track branch railway line in Gloucestershire, England that connected Cirencester to the main line at Kemble. It was opened by the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway in 1841. The main line was extended from Kemble to a junction near Gloucester in 1845, by the GWR which had taken over the C&GWUR. The branch supported a busy passenger and goods business, but these declined in the 1930s, and closure was threatened in the 1950s. To reduce costs and maintain the viability of the line, lightweight four-wheel diesel railbuses were introduced, and they proved popular. Nevertheless, the line's decline was inexorable, passenger service closed in 1964 and the goods service ending the following year.
Tetbury Road railway station was built by the Cheltenham & Great Western Union Railway to serve the Gloucestershire villages of Kemble and Coates, and the town of Tetbury.
Cirencester Town railway station was one of three railway stations which formerly served the town of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England; the others were Cirencester Watermoor and Chesterton Lane Halt.
Chalford railway station was situated on the Great Western Railway's Golden Valley Line, between Swindon and Gloucester. It was just east of the bridge carrying Cowcombe Hill over the railway. To the east of the station site lies Chalford Viaduct, and beyond that, Sapperton Long Tunnel.
Minety and Ashton Keynes railway station serving the village of Minety in Wiltshire, England, was opened in 1841 on the former Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway line from Gloucester to Swindon; it was originally called just Minety.
The Badminton railway line is a railway line opened in 1903 by the Great Western Railway between the Great Western Main Line at Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire and Patchway and Filton, north of Bristol, England. Forming the eastern section of the South Wales Main Line, it shortened the distance between South Wales and London for heavy mineral traffic and for express passenger trains; it relieved congestion on the line through Bath.
