"All aboard!"

Tourism chiefs board the SS Great Britain for GWR partner seminar 

Tourism chiefs from across the region have met aboard Bristol’s SS Great Britain [Thursday 12 September] as they attended a Great Western Railway partner seminar promoting UK travel.

Over 30 tourism partners from across the network, including English Heritage, local tourism boards, and community rail partnerships came together to learn from each other to encourage visitors to their region, and to hear of the exciting initiatives ahead.

Attendees had the opportunity to learn about the introduction of the Great West Way Discoverer pass, the largest integrated bus and train pass in the UK, aimed at making rail leisure travel more affordable for customers, and about the opening of a new station at Worcestershire Parkway.


At the top of the agenda was the opportunity to hear more about the new December timetable, which will see the biggest change to GWR services in 40 years. The timetable, launching on 15 December 2019, will see faster, more frequent services, and more seats – further supporting destinations across the south west.

Head of Marketing & Sales for GWR, Amanda Burns, said: 

“GWR recognises only too well the value of rail to the national and to local economies. The new timetable in December gives us a huge opportunity to invite even more people to visit the South West, both from within the UK, and from abroad - and to take advantage of the full benefits that rail travel has to offer in helping people get to great places.”

Worcestershire Parkway is set to open in December. The fully accessible station will provide connections to Oxford and London and will have a retail facility and ticket office. Alongside 500 car parking spaces, the station will also have secure cycle storage, motor cycle parking and electric car charging points, providing customers with more ways to start their journey.

Notes to editors

Great Western Railway (GWR) provides high speed, commuter, regional and branch line train services. We help over 100 million passengers reach their destinations every year - across South Wales, the West Country, the Cotswolds, and large parts of Southern England. 

We’re currently seeing the biggest investment in the network since Brunel so we can offer more trains, more seats, and shorter, more frequent journeys and continue the network’s heritage of helping connect more businesses to new and prosperous markets. Through a series of initiatives we aim to be a good neighbour to the communities we serve and are committed to making a positive social impact in those regions. Learn how we're Building a Greater West at GWR.com. GWR is a FirstGroup company.