Gloucester MP Richard Graham has welcomed news that Gloucester rail commuters to Bristol will benefit from 100 extra seats on key GWR services.

Western Railway (GWR) has begun rolling out new three car turbo trains onto many of their Gloucester to Bristol services to replace the existing two car Class 150 trains on the route. This will provide more capacity and greater comfort than the older carriages and each train should provide about 110 more seats.

Richard said: “The numbers of passengers using trains from Gloucester has increased much faster than the national average, the number of commuters to Bristol is up, and the current service is inadequate and very crowded at peak times. So I’ve been working with GWR on what more can be done and this is a welcome improvement. But there is more to be done and longer term GWR and I share an ambition for a significant additional number of services.”

GWR Regional Development Manager Dan Okey said: “We recognise that our Bristol and area commuter services are in demand, and we have been working hard to provide the additional capacity we know our customers want to see. These newer trains, with more capacity and better on board facilities, will bring a significant change in passenger experience – with further improvements to come.”

• Gloucester passenger growth was up 3.1% last year vs a national average increase of only 0.4%
• There is an extra service from Gloucester to Bristol at 20.20 filling a previous two hour gap.