Without stopping at any stations or encountering any leaves on the line, a train from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington set a new speed record on Tuesday evening.

The 6.49pm service on GWR‘s bullet-style Intercity Express Train took just 72 minutes to reach Paddington, arriving just after 8pm.

It is not quite the quickest time ever recorded between the two stations. That time of 68 minutes 19 seconds was set on May 7 1977; but Tuesday’s time is the new record post-2008 when new speed restrictions and safety measures were introduced.

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GWR managing director Mark Hopwood was on board the record-breaking service. He said: “This special run shows just what these Intercity Express Trains are capable of.”

When GWR’s new timetables are introduced on December 15, the fastest journey times between Temple Meads and Paddington will be cut to one hour 19 minutes – 17 minutes faster than is possible today.

And journey times into London, non-stop from Bristol Parkway, will be cut to just one hour eight minutes.

Network Rail western operations manager, Gary Abbott, added: “Setting this new speed record shows what is possible, and we will continue to work with GWR to deliver timetable and journey time improvements in December.”

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