Great British Railways: Station identity and livery unveiling (09/12/25)

[Mainline421]

"The" livery is disappointing. They could have a common brand and logo without everything having to make everything look the same. It would also save a lot of money on repainting in the medium term. Still at least it’s not plain grey like SWR or Thameslink

 

[Russel]

"The" livery is disappointing. They could have a common brand and logo without everything having to make everything look the same. It would also save a lot of money on repainting in the medium term. Still at least it’s not plain grey like SWR or Thameslink

You've seen the actual livery then?

 

[Mainline421]

You've seen the actual livery then?

I've only seen the same tweet as everyone, no leaks this time

 

[pennine]

Try this https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1998158147651793221?t=JqKudmLFeWth2HsTE9P2xQ&s=19

 

[800Travel]

Placement of GBR is a bit odd

Source ~ https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1998158147651793221

 

[MrJeeves]

Try this https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1998158147651793221?t=JqKudmLFeWth2HsTE9P2xQ&s=19

Embargo lifted 2230.

It's certainly interesting, with the lines not flowing well coach to coach...

It seems to be somewhat mirrored half way down the unit to try and account for this, but I don't think it works.

 

[thomalex]

"The" livery is disappointing. They could have a common brand and logo without everything having to make everything look the same. It would also save a lot of money on repainting in the medium term. Still at least it’s not plain grey like SWR or Thameslink

Personally what I'm hoping for is a common livery for the Intercity services and a separate livery for regional ones which allows some degree of customisation by region (such as colour) while retaining a familiar look, just to keep the network interesting.

 

[tbtc]

Tomorrow's comments are going to be 50% "what's the point in worrying about branding, they should focus all resources on cheaper fares, nobody even notices the color of the train" and 50% obsessing about whether some minor detail is precisely the same as used on a part of one of 1960s/1970s/1980s British Rail's liveries

It’s funny that most of the train is blue, despite GBR not running any trains inside Scotland, just the cross border services.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C23835/2025-12-09/detailed there's the 06:42 XC service from Dundee to Aberdeen (he says, clutching at straws!)

 

[popeter45]

Try this https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1998158147651793221?t=JqKudmLFeWth2HsTE9P2xQ&s=19

feels like too much is going on
my suggestion would be take the colours and make then stripes similar to Intercity

 

[thomalex]

Another image

Source - https://x.com/RichFromRail/status/1998158773790335406/photo/1

 

[Mainline421]

Lumo won't be happy.

Otherwise looks like something that would've looked modern in the 2010s, too loud.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Yuk! Looks like one of the rubbish liveries in the heady days of bus deregulation.

 

[m0ffy]

What is this obsession with slapping flags on everything? Can’t anyone remember which country they live in?

 

[Cardiff123]

That's truly horrendous. Thankfully TfW and ScotRail won't have to waste millions re-branding into this livery.

 

[eaet]

Ignoring the actual livery, I'm a big fan of the simplicity of the logo itself, hope that is more representative of the overall branding style

 

[Steddenm]

I don't like that at all. Looks too "cheap" for a brand. Not modern at all. Will be disappointing to see the current brands go on the 80x fleets. Think Lumo, Hull Trains, Grand Central will be OK as they are open access. Also same as ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper and TfW will remain. Wonder if some in Manchester will go for the Bee Network grand and Metro for Merseyrail?

 

[haydenwilliams]

Honestly it’s not as bad as I thought.

Would have been better if the ends of the trains had red then the rest was blue.

Still prefer the Chiltern Railways current liveries on the 168s.

Could have been so much worse

 

[sad1e]

Seen this on twitter. Looks like somebody's going to be in trouble for releasing the livery early.

 

[ENC Rail]

While I do understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, I must say I do like this livery!

 

[nilvaj395]

I prefered it better blurred to be honest, they've gone too complicated on it. Too much shoving Union Jack in the face once again, but not surprising for GBR.

The white around the cab window in particular I don't like , nor the small white stripe before the red. Also the comments about mirroring and poor flow as @MrJeeves said. Also to note the hideous font and logo they have used for this (and placement of said text/logo). They were so close to making something good but I set my expectations too high with it being GBR.

Honestly the dark blue, red stripe, and then the lighter blue all going in the same direction would've been so much better. But just incase you forget what country you're in, now the trains will tell you too. It seems like we are progressively becoming more yank-ified by having to plaster the flag on everything.

 

[Horizon22]

Article on the guardian:

Great British Railways flies the flag as logo goes back to the future

Livery for renationalised railway features red, white and blue alongside familiar double arrow symbol

www.theguardian.com

The logo, branding and livery for the impending renationalised and reformed railway will be unveiled by ministers at London Bridge on Tuesday. It is red, white and, yes, blue.

Designed in-house at the DfT, the logo is the GBR name in rail typeface accompanied by the double arrow symbol – what the DfT describes as a “nod to Britain’s proud railway heritage”, rather than a direct lift from British Rail.

The first actual trains to be repainted could arrive from next spring..

For me, it’s fine, but not amazing. Nice to at least some colour added into a stock design, considering how much grey there has been recently. Coaches seem a bit much though.

 

[Liam L]

What is this obsession with slapping flags on everything? Can’t anyone remember which country they live in?

Maybe it's for the people who are trying to forget where they are

 

[skyhigh]

Branding going in at Leeds station now.

 

[realemil]

Lumo won't be happy.

“This is a Lumo train, not GBR”

“But the blues the same!!”

 

[jupiter]

I think there’s too much going on there as well, and no coherence or ‘flow’ down the train.

 

[thomalex]

Personally I think it's too busy. I'm more of a fan of simplicity and just a large double arrow with a nice red and white line running the length of the carriages could have made the link to the union flag without having to literally put a jaunty, cartoon version of it all the way down the train.

Still, it's just a vision at the moment so hopefully it can at least be toned down a bit before it's rolled out. A very simple way would be to just have the union jack graphic part on the front and leave the rest of the carriages blue.

 

[LUYMun]

How is it going to reflect onto other train designs? It may look fine on an IET but not on a Desiro, say.

 

[sad1e]

Is it just me or does this livery look a bit like a recoloured TPE 80x Livery , they've obviously taken inspiration from the banding at the front of the TPE livery.

 

[haydenwilliams]

How is it going to reflect onto other train designs? It may look fine on an IET but not on a Desiro, say.

They had a version on a different train

https://x.com/todaysrailways/status/1998158095399154111?s=46&t=VDDeXp68odXgM42zzSoZ3g

 

[Bletchleyite]

That is beyond hideous.