Delivering a sustainable future

Delivering value for our customers.

We’ll continue to work with Transport Focus to make sure we meet the needs of our customers and improve their experience.

We will:

• fund an independent Passenger Link Manager to carry out more National Rail Passenger Survey work and ongoing research relating to Franchise Services
• employ more Customer Ambassadors, to help our customers at stations
• install more information screens, microphones and information boards and improve public announcement systems at key stations across the network
• use social media to keep our customers up-to-date during disruption
• work with the transport police to review security and crime risks at our stations to increase our customers’ confidence in their personal security
• review our strategy to increase seat capacity, enabling us to operate a timetable that strengthens our services
• publish an open and transparent annual Stakeholder Report which will contain feedback from our partners and stakeholders including Network Rail, who are key to the delivery of our services
• work with Network Rail to reduce disruption from engineering works
• keep key stakeholders informed about our sustainability strategy
• update our Carbon Calculator to provide more specific data on emissions from rail journeys
• provide an integrated and accessible transport system, that will support different forms of travel and improve our customers' door-to-door journeys
• actively monitor all our customer service channels and listen to feedback from all stakeholders

Measuring and managing our environmental impact

Measuring and managing our environmental impact is key to the success of our business. At Great Western Railway, we’re committed to protecting the environment and supporting the UK’s transition to a low-carbon future. From the way we power our trains and stations to how we manage waste and resources, we’re focused on operating responsibly and sustainably across our network.

We actively measure and manage our environmental impacts through our ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO 50001 (Energy Management) systems, ensuring continuous improvement and compliance across all our activities.

Our priorities

We are focused on:

• Cutting carbon emissions by improving energy efficiency across depots, stations and offices, and supporting the decarbonisation of rail traction through innovation and partnership.
• Reducing waste and improving recycling, with zero non-hazardous waste sent to landfill, continued recycling initiatives, and implementation of Simpler Recycling systems for colleagues and customers.
• Using energy and water responsibly, through smart metering, efficient controls, new energy-efficient compressors at engineering depots, and water-saving measures such as rainwater harvesting.
• Adapting to a changing climate, strengthening the resilience of our network to extreme weather through our Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation (WRCCA) strategy.
• Protecting and enhancing biodiversity, ensuring our projects and maintenance activities consider local habitats and nature recovery.
• Working with suppliers and partners to promote sustainable practices, ethical sourcing, and circular-economy principles.
• Engaging and empowering colleagues, with training and guidance to help everyone play their part in reducing environmental impacts.

Our Environmental Performance (FY 2024/25)

Each year we report our progress against key Environmental Impact Targets agreed with the Department for Transport under the National Rail Contract.

Target area	Performance target	End-of-year result	Status vs target
Traction carbon emissions	≤ 232,843 t CO₂e	249,988 t CO₂e	+7% (but tracking 0.3% below last year when normalised against seat kilometres)
Non-traction energy	≤ 36,188,961 kWh	34,697,553 kWh	–4% below target
Mains water consumption	≤ 198,732 m³	203,608 m³	+2.5% (0.4% higher than FY23/24)
Waste to landfill	0%	0%	Maintained
Recycling rate	≥ 77.5%	76%	–1.5% below KPI target

Our commitment to transparency

This information is published to meet our obligations under Chapter 6 (Environment and Sustainability), Paragraph 1.5 (Publication) of the Great Western National Rail Contract, ensuring that details of our environmental performance are publicly accessible on our website and in our annual Customer Report. (PDF, 1 MB)

Together with our partners and communities, we’re working to make rail travel cleaner, greener, and more resilient for the future.

Making a positive contribution to the communities in which we operate.

We will continue to support Community Rail Partnerships and will produce an open and transparent annual Stakeholder Report.

We’ll also work with local government, authorities and enterprise partnerships to deliver our services and improve the transport network, and implement our Customer and Communities Improvement Fund for the benefit of communities in areas of need.

We will:

• continue to fund Community Rail Partnerships
• publish an open and transparent annual Stakeholder Report at the end of each financial year
• hold an annual Community Rail Conference each year of the franchise
• hold an annual Local Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership event for representatives from areas served by GWR each year of the franchise
• continue to work with the Job Centre to issue discounted rail tickets to job seekers
• invest in programmes to assist the long-term unemployed, such as The Prince’s Trust 'Get in to Railways' Scheme, work placements and employability skills mentoring
• work with local authorities to increase services on Cornish branch lines to provide better connections with our main line services
• offer affordable fares to make sure cost is not a barrier to people choosing to travel by rail
• develop an in-depth and accurate understanding of the needs and aspirations of our customers and stakeholders through our Customer and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy

Our goal is to make GWR an inclusive and supportive place to work.

We will maintain our Investors in People certification and apply our diversity strategy to all recruitment, as well as continuing to support apprentices across GWR.

We’ll also continue to monitor employee engagement and will regularly review and improve our reward and recognition programme.

We will:

• maintain our Investors in People Gold status
• apply our Diversity Strategy to all recruitment activities to create a more inclusive culture across GWR
• improve workplace-related data collection and carry out equality and diversity profiling for GWR
• continue to offer apprentice programmes in engineering and operations
• ensure our sustainability vision becomes ‘business as usual’ throughout GWR
• monitor and improve employee attendance by implementing in-house Occupational Health and Wellbeing programmes
• regularly review and improve the GWR Rewards and Recognition programme
• monitor employee engagement and satisfaction through employee surveys
• develop objectives and targets for issues highlighted in the workplace through external assessments such as Investors in People and EFQM

We will work with our partners to provide the smoothest door-to-door journeys possible.

We’ll improve the integration of different methods of transport and ensure our services are accessible to all, as well as reducing carbon emissions on our network by helping our customers make more sustainable travel choices.

We will:

• improve access to our services by using our best endeavours to modify our fleet to be compliant with the 'Persons of Reduced Mobility Technical Specification for Interoperability' (PRM TSI)
• make sure the wheelchair ramps at our stations are compliant with the PRM TSI specification
• work with manufacturers to make sure new trains provide the best accessibility for our customers
• promote investment in more bike storage facilities at our stations
• implement recommendations identified in Station Travel Plans for key locations on the network
• help our customers to make more sustainable, door-to-door, travel choices, by identifying opportunities to enhance our ‘green travel’ and integrated transport options
• support the door-to-door journey needs of our customers, by working with local authorities to increase car parking at key locations
• work with Network Rail and the Environment Agency to review the impact of extreme weather events and develop contingency plans and long-term risk management plans
• work with Network Rail to understand how their Climate Change Adaptation work minimises risk at key locations across our network, and use this information to revise our business continuity and service delivery plans
• develop a Vulnerable Persons Policy that identifies those who are considered to be ‘vulnerable’ and detail how to protect them

Ensuring clear and open channels of communication with our stakeholders.

We will engage our stakeholders on sustainability and environmental issues, and update them at regular intervals.

We will:

• work with Network Rail to create a communication plan that keeps stakeholders and passengers informed with infrastructure plans across the network
• use information screens and announcements at our stations, social media and advertising, to keep our passengers up to date with the progress of our infrastructure plans
• keep stakeholders updated on our progress in implementing our sustainability strategy
• work with our stakeholders, local authorities, line-side neighbours, local interest groups and Community Rail Partnerships on environmental issues across the network
• continue to track our social value contributions through the London Benchmarking Group process
• increase the transparency of our environmental KPI reporting, identify trends and track performance against targets

Taking a sustainable approach to our supply chain.

We will make sure sustainability is built in to all our contracts, and work with suppliers to reduce waste and improve energy efficiency, as well as promoting the use of apprentices.

We will:

• increase the number of small and medium businesses used in our supply chain
• host an event for our key suppliers, to update them on our progress in implementing a sustainable procurement policy and strategy
• work with our suppliers to reduce waste and identify opportunities for take back schemes
• continue to support local economies by sourcing on train food and drink from local producers
• use BS11000 Collaborative Business Relationships to improve decision-making with our key suppliers
• hold regular reviews with our suppliers to make sure sustainability issues are being addressed
• carry out site inspections during construction works to make sure sustainability and environmental risks are addressed

Boosting the productivity and competitiveness of the UK.

We’ll continue to work with local authorities and enterprise partnerships to improve our services and contribute to regional economic growth.

We will:

• issue discounted rail tickets to job seekers in partnership with the Job Centre
• invest in programmes such as The Prince’s Trust ‘Get in to Railways’ course, work placements and employability skills mentoring, to help the long-term unemployed
• work with our partners to deliver Local Growth Fund schemes that support our customers and meet local social and economic needs
• work with local authorities and enterprise partnerships, to secure match funding to improve services and facilities that will contribute to economic growth and job creation in the region