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9th Sep (2006)
Final commuter trains from Swindon to Melksham (link)
Train RunningCancelled
09/09/26 04:54 Plymouth to London Paddington
09/09/26 04:59 Swansea to London Paddington
09/09/26 05:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington
09/09/26 05:32 Plymouth to London Paddington
09/09/26 05:42 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 05:55 Plymouth to London Paddington
09/09/26 05:57 Swansea to London Paddington
09/09/26 06:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 06:22 Westbury to London Paddington
09/09/26 06:42 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington
09/09/26 06:48 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
09/09/26 06:51 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
09/09/26 06:54 Taunton to London Paddington
09/09/26 07:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington
09/09/26 07:40 Reading to London Paddington
09/09/26 07:42 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 08:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 08:42 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 09:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 09:42 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 09:49 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
09/09/26 10:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 10:42 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 11:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 11:42 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
09/09/26 12:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
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09/09/26 13:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
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09/09/26 14:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
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09/09/26 15:12 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
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Great Western Coffee Shop > All across the Great Western territory > Across the West > GWR Community Rail and Stakeholder conference - 2.7.2026 - Summary report
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Author Topic: GWR Community Rail and Stakeholder conference - 2.7.2026 - Summary report  (Read 623 times)
grahame
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« on: July 03, 2026, 07:51:23 »
Yesterday, I attended Great Western Railway's Community and Stakeholder Conference in Swindon, along with perhaps 200 others.   These are / have been incredibly worthwhile events - to hear an learn what the GWR▸ (Great Western Railway) and Network Rail Western ROute teams are thinking, to be introduced to a number of projects they are highlighting, and to network with long established friends - catching up with a few words in person is so valuable - and making new ones.

By its nature, this is designed as being a positive event to motivate the room full of advocates for rail; very serious issues are raised / commented on / acknowldeged, but that's not the overall gloss of the day.  Unpaid volunteers / advocates do so much for rail - mention was made of £18 of benefit for every £1 spent on us - we are cheap support and marketing for the rail industry.

During the day at these conference, I type notes on my laptop and take photo.  I have published those at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32194 which is a "frequent poster" topic on our forum.  Nothing inhetently secret in there (and you may quote bits of it) but roughly written and I may have missed some key points and got soem wrong.

Some big take-aways
* There is a lot to do, and lots of good intent and lots of analysis
* How that good intent will be followed into action is unclear/unknown
* There are massive advocates of rail and passenger transport is still very important
* There are so many really good people trying to do jobs hamstrung byb controls and circumances
* There are many things we in the community may not consider / understand
* We need to look after and adovacate for our own stations, towns, regions
* We can too easily loose the wider plot if we argue over differences of how to achieve results
* We can't do / have done everything we want - lack of resource
* There are quick wins to be had, but sometimes hard to convince people
* I think we have/had excellent leads with some frustations from GWR when part of First
* With short term contract extensitons since 2013 - looking long term has been difficult
* I look forward with some trepidation to the nationalised operator future









I / we are promised a slide set from the day and I will share that for Coffee Shop members as it becomes available.    If you are not a Coffee Shop member,  please note that we are free and independent forum (run as a hobby thing by a fabulous team of moderators, admins and members, and we would welcome you to join and contribute if you wish.  Once you have made a few posts and established that you are legit, you'll automatically become a member of "frequent posters" and able to see and comment on things like my full notes mentioned earlier in this thread.    Register at this link
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grahame
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« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2026, 08:34:38 »
Slide set - for Coffee shop members and thanks to GWR▸ (Great Western Railway) at:
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/GWR_crcof26.pdf
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