A new speed record has been set on a train from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington.
This has been done to celebrate the release of Great Western Railway's new timetable, which comes into effect on 15 December.
GWR's bullet-style Intercity Express Train took just 72 minutes to reach London Paddington.
Last night's special non-stop service marked the new December timetable being made public for the first time.
The biggest timetable change on the network since 1976 will offer faster journey times and more frequent services to key locations.
The service left Bristol Temple Meads at 1849 and arrived into London Paddington at 2001 to establish a post-speed restriction record between the two stations.
What did the officials say?
GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood was accompanied on board last night's special service by guests and local businesses. He said:
“This special run shows just what these Intercity Express Trains are capable of.
“It is less than 12 weeks until the timetable change on Sunday, December 15, and the timing of almost every single train we run will be different. The IETs will be critical to us delivering even more frequent services and quicker journeys.
“Customers will see the fastest journey times between Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington cut to 1 hour 19 minutes – 17 minutes faster than is possible today. And journey times into London, non-stop from Bristol Parkway, will be cut to just 1 hour 8 minutes.”
Network Rail Operations Manager, Western, Gary Abbott said:
“We're now able to fully realise the significant benefits from our investment in the rail infrastructure. Setting this new speed record shows what is possible, and we will continue to work with GWR to deliver timetable and journey time improvements in December.”
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Oh, yet again a dearth of detail….did it go via Bath, or Parkway? (which it probably did), and how it didn’t get caught up with other trains as most of my Bristol-Paddington journeys do…at least it is good to see some improvements in December; the 800’s in AC mode are nippy!
All thanks to the Class 800 and Class 802 IETs. These new trains are amazing.