The names are in the first post:
First (First Great Western)
- Arriva UK/ DB (Great Western Trains - no doubt in similiar vain to the way XC is operated...Hide the Arriva name so people won't think itll be carp)
- National Express (National Express Great Western - YUCK!)
- Stagecoach (Stagecoach Great Western Trains)
Not quite - those are the registered company names (ie add Ltd on the end of them all). In the same vein, London Midland's company name is London and Birmingham Railway Ltd. Not quite as catchy.
I think the only ones we could be dead sure about are Stagecoach (branded similar to EMT and SWT as GWT), NX (NX Great Western) and First (as current).
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I know it's been much argued about before, but can we recap briefly for a moment why no one likes this IEP gadget?
Essentially because;
- it's replacing full length HSTs with 5 car bi-modes (essentially a Voyager with a pantograph).
- the end product is so vastly different from the original spec, it is unfair to say both that a) it is a true HST replacement and b) Hitachi deservedly should have the contract
- the bi-mode concept is being used to quietly cancel future electrification plans
- there are so few all-electric trains being introduced
- together, this paves the way for a new future policy of "no electrification - chuck bi-mode at it instead".
I should make it clear that had the original spec been kept to, ie all electric, most critics wouldn't have a problem.