Great Western Main Line

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The Great Western Main Line at Dawlish
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The Great Western Main Line crosses the River Thames on Maidenhead Railway Bridge

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 is also part of the Great Western Main Line, as is the route that diverges at Reading to reach Exeter more directly via Newbury, Westbury and Castle Cary.

Contents

Routes in detail

London to Plymouth via Bristol

Reading to Taunton

Most direct London-Plymouth trains use this route.

Cornish Main Line

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.

Railway lines in Great Britain:

<p style="font-size: 90%">High-speed main lines: <p style="font-size: 90%">Channel Tunnel Rail Link - Channel Tunnel
<p style="font-size: 90%">'Classic' main lines: <p style="font-size: 90%">Cross-Country - East Coast - Great Eastern - Great Western - Midland - West Coast
<p style="font-size: 90%">Other main lines: <p style="font-size: 90%">Brighton - Chiltern - Chatham - Hastings - Highland - Kent Coast - London, Tilbury & Southend - North Wales - Portsmouth Direct - Settle-Carlisle - Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton - South Wales - South Western - Welsh Marches - Wessex - West Anglia - West of England
<p style="font-size: 90%">Secondary routes: <p style="font-size: 90%">Airedale - Arun Valley - Ayrshire Coast - Birmingham-Peterborough - Caldervale - Cambridge-Norwich - Cotswold - Dearne Valley - East Coastway - Golden Valley - Glasgow South Western - Hallam - Harrogate - Harwich - Hope Valley - Huddersfield - Lea Valley - Leeds-Bradford - Medway Valley - North Downs - Pontefract - Robin Hood - Riviera - Wakefield - West Coastway - York & Selby
<p style="font-size: 90%">Commuter lines: <p style="font-size: 90%">Alton - Argyle - Bexleyheath - Birmingham Cross-City - Braintree - Butetown - Cardiff City - Caterham - Catford Loop - Chase - Coryton - Dartford Loop - Gospel Oak-Barking - Hayes - Hounslow Loop - Inverclyde - Ivanhoe - Maesteg - Merthyr - Mid-Kent - Morecambe - North Clyde - North Kent - North London - Northern City - Oxted - Rhondda - Rhymney - Romford-Upminster - Severn Beach - Sheerness - South London - St Albans Abbey - Sutton & Mole Valley - Tattenham Corner - Vale of Glamorgan - Walsall - Waterloo-Reading - West London - Wharfedale - Whifflet
<p style="font-size: 90%">Rural lines: <p style="font-size: 90%">Atlantic Coast - Avocet - Bittern - Buxton - Cambrian - Crouch Valley - Cumbrian Coast - Conwy Valley - Derwent Valley - Durham Coast - East Suffolk - Esk Valley - Far North - Felixstowe - Fen Line - Furness - Heart of Wales - Heart of Wessex - Island Line - Kyle of Lochalsh - Looe Valley - Lymington - Maritime - Marshlink - Marston Vale - Penistone - Ribble Valley - St Ives - Sudbury - Tamar Valley - Tarka - Tees Valley - Tyne Valley - West Highland - Wherry - Windermere - Yorkshire Coast
<p style="font-size: 90%">Closed major routes: <p style="font-size: 90%">Great Central - Honeybourne - Somerset & Dorset - Waverley - Woodhead

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