GREAT Western Railway (GWR) and Network Rail are joining forces by bringing their Control functions together in a single, joint team.

The move to bring track and train closer together builds on the organisations’ collaborative working and formal alliance agreement originally signed in 2016 – it is designed to improve operation performance by bring the Control function under one leadership team.

GWR and Network Rail Control teams based in Western House, Swindon, work together to manage the day-to-day safe operation of the railway on the GWR network.

Daryn McCombe, GWR’s Train Service Delivery and Performance Director, will now also take on a role as Network Operations Director.

Daryn said: “Put simply, our organisations and our customers are always better off when we combine our efforts.

“This change brings our working relationship even closer and aims to enhance our operational performance by fostering collaboration, streamlining our processes, and ultimately improving the service we deliver to all passengers.

“By working together more closely as one team we will be in a stronger position to manage our performance; tackle disruption; make swift decisions and ensure we stay focused on our shared objective – to bring a safe, reliable and seamless railway experience to our passengers and customers.”