A NEW speed record has been set today by Great Western Railway.

The journey time of 1 hour 33 minutes 44 seconds to travel from Cardiff to London Paddington saw GWR’s Intercity Express Train eclipse the previous record set by a High-Speed Train in 1988.

The train left Swansea at 12.48pm and travelled via Swindon before arriving into London Paddington at 15.20pm.

GWR managing director Mark Hopwood who was on board said: “This had been a memorable journey and shows just what our intercity Express Trains are capable of.

“We have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare to implement the biggest timetable change on this network since the 1970s, enabling us to take advantage of the full benefits that new Intercity Express Trains are bringing.

“In providing more frequent and quicker journeys our new timetable will, for the vast majority of users, quite literally mean ‘all change please’ and we are pleased the new timetable has now been published.”

The new timetable will offer faster journeys from Swindon to London, with thousands of extra seats for passengers.

GWR posted a modern speed record on October 8 an IET took just 44 minutes to travel from Swindon to London Paddington.