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Great Western Main Line










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The Great Western Main Line is a main line Railway in the United Kingdom , corresponding to the principal routes of the pre-1948 Great Western Railway which were subsequently taken over by the Western Region of British Railways and are now operated by First Great Western .

The original Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington via Reading , Swindon , Bath , Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter to Plymouth .

The route that diverges at Swindon to Bristol Parkway , the Severn Tunnel , Newport , Cardiff and Swansea , known as the South Wales Main Line , is also part of the Great Western Main Line, as is the Berks and Hants Line, diverging at Reading to reach Exeter more directly via Newbury , Westbury and Castle Cary .

The line is electrified at 25 KV AC overhead between Paddington and the junction with the line to Heathrow Airport, and is one of only two lines in the UK to be equipped with the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, the other being the Chiltern Main Line .


ROUTES IN DETAIL


London to Plymouth via Bristol



Reading to Taunton


Note: Most direct London-Plymouth trains use this route.


Cornish Main Line




Note: The section of line between St Austell and Truro has recently been upgraded to double track, to allow better timekeeping and reduce delays to services.