page_title: InterCity 125
section_title: South West England and South Wales
hierarchical_section_title: InterCity 125 / Regions and operators / South West England and South Wales
caption_attribution_description: English: W43002 at Bristol Temple Meads.
context_page_description: The InterCity 125 is a diesel-powered passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited between 1975 and 1982. Each set is made up of two Class 43 power cars, one at each end and a rake of Mark 3 carriages. The name is derived from its top operational speed of 125 mph. Initially the sets were classified as Classes 253 and 254.
  As of December 2019, InterCity 125s remained in service with Abellio ScotRail, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and Network Rail.
context_section_description: On the Western Region, InterCity 125 trains (designated class 253) were introduced on services from London to Bristol and South Wales, and extended to most daytime services from London to Devon and Cornwall. Some South Wales services were extended to Milford Haven, Fishguard and Pembroke in West Wales. Maintenance was provided at Old Oak Common and St Philip's Marsh, and Laira also carried out maintenance after services to Devon and Cornwall were introduced in 1979.
  British Rail Class 47 locomotives still operated cross-country services from Cornwall and South Wales to the North-East via the Cross Country Route, and London to the Midlands/Welsh Marches. Class 43s replaced them when the third batch of power cars was delivered in 2+7 formation with two first class coaches, a buffet car, and four second class coaches between two power cars. They were later expanded to a 2+8 formation, with an extra second class carriage.
  Great Western Trains was formed out of the privatisation of British Rail and operated the InterCity routes from London Paddington to the west of England. In 1998 FirstGroup acquired Great Western Trains and rebranded it First Great Western. InterCity 125s continued to work the same diagrams they had under British Rail, albeit in a different livery.
   
  Great Western Railway used 43 HST sets to operate most intercity services from Paddington to Bristol, Bath Spa, Chippenham, Swindon, Cardiff, Swansea, Carmarthen, Cheltenham Spa, Oxford, Worcester, Hereford, Paignton, Plymouth and Penzance, and some commuter services to Westbury, Taunton and Exeter St Davids. In 2012 all First Great Western's intercity services were worked by InterCity 125 sets with the exception of sleeper services and some Cotswold Line services.
  From 2005 the First Great Western HSTs were re-engined with MTU power units and the coaches were refurbished. Units for services in the M4 corridor/Thames Valley to Bristol, Hereford, Oxford, Exeter and Cardiff were converted to a high-density layout of mostly airline-style seats in standard class (only two tables per coach) to provide more seats for commuters. The remainder, for routes to Swansea and the West Country, included four tables per standard class coach.
  The refurbished coaches had new seating (leather in first class), at-seat power points and a redesigned buffet bar. From 2010, one standard class carriage in each set had a Volo TV system, but this was removed in 2014.
  Another change was made in 2014, when some first class coaches were converted to standard class or composite (half standard and half first class), leaving 1½ first class coaches per set. The first class coaches were refurbished in a more luxurious style, and many tables with one seat each side in first class were replaced by individual airline-style seats.
  By mid-2019, Great Western Railway no longer had any HSTs operating service to or from Paddington, having replaced all of them with Class 800 and Class 802.
  Great Western Railway are to retain 24 powercars and 48 carriages to form 11 four-carriage sets for use on local services between Cardiff and Penzance.
caption: 43002 has been repainted into original InterCity 125 livery to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the IC125 and named after the man that designed them, Sir Kenneth Grange.
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