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

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skyhigh

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An example of station branding:Messenger_creation_7AE699FF-20A7-4606-AE18-69E529CC0C2D~2.jpg
Text reads "GBR A railway owned by you"
 
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nilvaj395

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What is this obsession with slapping flags on everything? Can’t anyone remember which country they live in?
I view it as the UK becoming more yank-ified, but thats just a personal opinion.
 
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physics34

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Another image

G7rGs0rWsAAB_sa


Source - https://x.com/RichFromRail/status/1998158773790335406/photo/1
I believe this image is Train SIM?
 

bramling

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Am I the only one who thinks that livery looks utterly repulsive?

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An example of station branding:View attachment 193516
Text reads "GBR A railway owned by you"

So a meaningless political ideology statement. Most passengers would rather efforts were focussed on getting the railway running reliably - one speaks as a GTR user where virtually every journey in recent memory has been disrupted in some way.
 

sabanda

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Could have been worse, but equally there are so many irksome bits that I don't even know where to start unpicking it all!
 

Bletchleyite

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That nicely shows a big design error. RA2 is a utilitarian font. It looks awful in a logotype like that (just like Avanti's "big A" in Helvetica at the vehicle ends) yet undeneath the unit number is there in a stylised, modern font.

Any publicity company worth its salt would be embarrassed at this amateuish mess, it's nothing on the superb TfW and ScotRail branding packages.

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Could have been worse, but equally there are so many irksome bits that I don't even know where to start unpicking it all!

I don't think it could have been much worse to be honest.
 

Farigiraf

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While not bad in my opinion, it goes against a lot of the minimalist train liveries used in recent times which have been very pleasant. I'd echo previous posters stating that it's too flashy - imagine this on every regional train in the country - in Looe, Whitby, Elton & Orston, Windermere and everywhere between. At bit much.

However if picking the lowest effort design means they can concentrate more time and money on running the service better than under privatisation, I'm all for it - though we know it doesn't work like that ;)
 
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That nicely shows a big design error. RA2 is a utilitarian font. It looks awful in a logotype like that (just like Avanti's "big A" in Helvetica at the vehicle ends) yet undeneath the unit number is there in a stylised, modern font.

Any publicity company worth its salt would be embarrassed at this amateuish mess, it's nothing on the superb TfW and ScotRail branding packages.

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I don't think it could have been much worse to be honest.
No there could have been worse, could have been just a Union Jack flag elongated to fit the full length
 

nilvaj395

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So a meaningless political ideology statement. Most passengers would rather efforts were focussed on getting the railway running reliably - one speaks as a GTR user where virtually every journey in recent memory has been disrupted in some way.
It is kinda like when the people of Liverpool were told 'you own the 777s now', when literally most people couldn't care less or even know the benefits or such, if the service still is unreliable then the train ownership doesn't matter. I think it's important that trains are owned by the state of course, but delivering a compotent service should be the main part.

People view it as even more of an issue when it's a government company who is not delivering as opposed to a private one. And just saying 'its publically owned now everything will be amazing' offers nothing of value, especially considering what the DfT is actually like.

It would be funny to see a livery like this on a 150/156, trains that have outlived privitisation and now will have to wear a (worse) livery if this is anything to go by.
 

STINT47

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The PR talk for the trains is on this attachment showing the livery and the designers thought process.
 

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nlogax

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Maybe there's a bit too much going on up front with the return to yellow panels exacerbating what is already a busy design.

It hardly matters though. If it's consistently applied and gets the nationalised railway message across then job done. Passengers aren't going to be worrying about what their train looks like from the outside. They're far more concerned about getting from a to b on time and without incident.
 

Recessio

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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
Indeed, it reminds me of the Swiss Railways SBB CFS FFS logo on some of their units
 

liamf656

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Not a fan if I'm honest. Are they all going to look like that or will it be standardised (and boring imo)?
 

XCTurbostar

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I would be happy with the front but arrows on the intermediate coaches too?
 

Bletchleyite

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Indeed, it reminds me of the Swiss Railways SBB CFS FFS logo on some of their units

It doesn't fit with a brash livery like that, though. The SBB livery is basic, understated and professional. This, er, isn't.

I will admit I don't like RA2 at all, it's a clumsy and odd font compared to the original. But even so, brash and modern requires a brash and modern logotype, not a classic, utilitarian one that would suit classic Rail Blue but not this 5 year old and MS Paint job.
 

nctd2306

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Upon seeing this, my mind went straight to the Trinity Railway Express livery on the Dallas to Fort Worth Commuter trains in Texas :lol: :lol:
I also think it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Amtrak's latest paint scheme, the Phase VII livery, almost as if Amtrak decided to order an IET!

(Not my images, credit to the original photographers)
 

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Bletchleyite

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It clearly takes the basic principles from the TransPennine Express livery, but that works better because the colour scheme is less brash. If you have brasher colours you need a more understated design or it just looks too "in your face".
 

Seagull2006

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I like the idea of the union jack integrated on the front, but not overly a fan of it on the middle coaches. I'd prefer a simpler blue only scheme for those.
 

fgwrich

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Am I the only one who thinks that livery looks utterly repulsive?

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So a meaningless political ideology statement. Most passengers would rather efforts were focussed on getting the railway running reliably - one speaks as a GTR user where virtually every journey in recent memory has been disrupted in some way.

While not bad in my opinion, it goes against a lot of the minimalist train liveries used in recent times which have been very pleasant. I'd echo previous posters stating that it's too flashy - imagine this on every regional train in the country - in Looe, Whitby, Elton & Orston, Windermere and everywhere between. At bit much.

However if picking the lowest effort design means they can concentrate more time and money on running the service better than under privatisation, I'm all for it - though we know it doesn't work like that ;)

No I’m with you both. It’s basically the colours of the Union Jack slapped over the base of TransPennine Express.

It really makes me rather sad that, whilst privatisation bought of a myriad of liveries and designs, we’ve had some utterly superb and classy ones ranging from the very beginning - eg GNER, Merlin, Southern, Central and South West Trains, to mid privatisation ones like London Midland, Dynamic Lines and Virgin Trains silver and red to more recent ones such as EMR and GWR.

And this, is what we’ve come up with. It’s bold, it’s brash, and it’s garish.
 

Recessio

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I like the idea of the union jack integrated on the front, but not overly a fan of it on the middle coaches. I'd prefer a simpler blue only scheme for those.
That's what Network Southeast livery used to do I think right? You might be on to something there, I think that would look very good
 
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