Western route
Our work
- GSM-R: the railway’s mobile communication system
- Our regions
- Digital Railway
- Long-term planning
- Looking after the railway
- Asset management
- Asset Protection and Optimisation
- Bridges, tunnels and viaducts
- Delays explained
- Earthworks: cutting slopes and embankments
- Level crossings
- Our fleet: machines and vehicles
- Planned works
- Litter and fly-tipping
- Responding to weather impacts on the railway
- Signalling
- Track
- Vegetation management
- Our routes
- Anglia route
- About the Anglia route
- Improving the railway in Anglia
- Keeping our communities safe in Anglia
- East Coast route
- East Midlands route
- North & East route
- West Coast South route
- North West route
- Central route
- Kent route
- South East upgrade
- Hither Green station Access for All improvements
- Peckham Rye station upgrade
- Shortlands station Access for All improvements
- Blackheath Tunnel Upgrade
- Hungerford Railway Bridge Refurbishment
- Lewisham resignalling
- Landslip prevention works at Chislet
- Upgrading the sea defences at Folkestone Warren
- Renewing the lifts at Sevenoaks station
- Petts Wood station footbridge refurbishment
- Hastings to Tunbridge Wells, and Hastings to Bexhill line closure
- Bexley station subway
- Dartford Junction: Line closure between Dartford and Gravesend
- South East upgrade
- Sussex route
- Network Rail High Speed
- Scotland route
- Wales route
- Wessex route
- Wessex railway upgrade plan
- Heart of Wessex line upgrades
- Feltham and Wokingham re-signalling programme
- Portsmouth Direct Upgrade
- Wessex Access for All schemes
- Improving London Waterloo station
- West of England line improvements
- Island Line Improvements
- North Downs Line signalling upgrade
- Portsmouth and Portcreek area improvement work
- Staines to Windsor improvement work
- Barnes to Feltham via Hounslow Upgrades
- Berrylands Station Upgrade
- London Waterloo and Clapham Junction line closures
- Reading improvement works
- Bournemouth to Dorchester South Line Renewals
- New Malden to Twickenham Renewals
- Western route
- South West Rail Resilience Programme
- Oxfordshire Connect
- Tackley Level Crossing
- Bristol Rail Regeneration
- Dartmoor Line
- MetroWest rail upgrades
- Old Oak Common lineside logistics compound
- Devizes Gateway feasibility study
- HS2 Old Oak Common Station
- Mid Cornwall Metro
- The Portishead Line
- Gloucester signal box upgrade
- Langport bridge
- Frome Railway Bridge
- Autumn drainage work in Somerset
- Anglia route
- Train operating companies
- Living by the railway
- Railway Upgrade Plan
Our Western route stretches from London Paddington to Penzance, through Bristol and up to the boundaries with Wales, the Cotswolds and Hampshire
We operate, maintain and are renewing more than 2,000 miles of railway, including the historic Great Western Main Line, conceived by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. There are 198 stations on the route, and we manageLondon Paddington,Reading andBristol Temple Meads stations.
Following a 10 year, multi-billion-pound upgrade programme, we now operate electric services between the west of England and London for the first time. Working with partners, we have exciting plans to continue modernising the railway for the benefit of passengers and freight in every area we represent.
On this page you can find out more about some of our plans and projects, as well as links to the eight passenger train operators on Western route.
Main railway lines:
- the Great Western Mainline from London Paddington to Bristol and into South Wales.
Latest news
Projects in Western
Train companies operating on the Western Route
Safety
We work closely with local communities to promote safety by the railway. Find out more on our community safety page.