page_title: 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western main line
section_title: Long distance inter-city services
hierarchical_section_title: 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western main line / Rolling stock / Long distance inter-city services
caption_attribution_description: 43188 GWR
context_page_description: Network Rail plans to spend £5 billion on modernising the Great Western main line, its South Wales branch and other associated lines. The modernisation plans were announced at separate times but their development time-scales overlap in the 2010s. The work includes electrification, resignalling, new rolling stock and station upgrades. According to Network Rail, the modernisation started in June 2010 and was due to end in 2017. As of December 2019, electrification was complete as far west as Cardiff Central, and also from Reading to Newbury.
  The project has been subject to repeated delays. In November 2016 the government announced that several major elements of the electrification programme would be indefinitely deferred because costs had tripled. The five sections that are delayed are:
  Oxford to Didcot Parkway
  Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads
  Thingley Junction, near Chippenham, to Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads
  Thames Valley branches to Henley and Windsor
  Swansea to Cardiff.
  Under the Intercity Express Programme, 21 electric Class 800 trains were ordered as replacements for the ageing InterCity 125 diesels.
context_section_description: Services from London Paddington to south west England and south Wales were served by Class 43 "InterCity 125" train sets, until 18 May 2019. The Intercity 125 trains were built between 1975 and 1982 and due to their age are to be replaced by new Hitachi Super Express train sets. The "Intercity 125" trains, now operating in shortened sets from Bristol and Cardiff, are one of the fastest trains on the Great Western, operating at 125 mph (201 km/h); the only faster services in the UK are on High Speed One from Eurostar and Southeastern with their Class 373s, Class 374s and Class 395s (London to Folkestone/Channel Tunnel), which operate at 186 mph (299 km/h), 186 mph (299 km/h) and 140 mph (225 km/h) respectively; the Class 390 'Pendolinos' on the West Coast Main Line and the InterCity 225 trains on the East Coast Main Line which are both capable of 140 mph (225 km/h), restricted only by line speed. The new Super Express trains will have a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h) but will be capable of 140 mph (225 km/h) with minor modifications. The upgrading of the signalling on the Great Western to in-cab signalling is one pre-requisite to allow the new trains to run at the higher speed. In the 2010 GWML RUS, Network Rail stated that linespeeds in excess of 125 mph (201 km/h) west of Reading would be "reviewed in line with electrification and resignalling opportunities as ERTMS becomes deployed across the RUS area" after Control Period 4 (2014–2019).
  The initial new Hitachi Super Express trains planned for the Great Western inter-city services will be Class 800 electro-diesel bi-mode trains capable of running on lines with and without overhead wires. This is because of the deferment of the electrification project. Despite the initial limit of 125 mph, the increased acceleration and operational efficiency are expected to decrease the journey time from London to Bristol Temple Meads by 22 minutes.  The new Super Express trains will bring an estimated 15% increased capacity during the morning peak hours.  The bi-mode trains will allow inter-city services to operate from London directly to locations in South Wales and southwest England, to which electrification does not extend under the current electrification proposals, like Carmarthen, Worcester, Gloucester, Cheltenham and the regions to the southwest of Bristol and Newbury. A portion of the fleet will be Class 802 trains, a more powerful variant of the Class 800 which will cope better with the gradients in Devon and Cornwall.
  New servicing facilities for the new fleet of Inter-City Express trains will be developed at the London North Pole Depot, the Filton Triangle rail depot in Stoke Gifford and at Maliphant sidings in Swansea.
caption: Current InterCity 125 at Didcot Parkway
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