Great Western Railway is celebrating this Pride Month, with a difference, as it celebrates Trainbow’s second birthday.

Local pride events have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Intercity Express Train designed to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community made its first journey on 7 June 2018 and will be named Alan Turing later this year.

GWR’s Business Assurance Director, Joe Graham said: “Naming Trainbow after Alan Turing is the most fitting tribute to one of our most recognised Great Westerners. This is a double celebration of both the LGBTQ+ community and the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, with Turing being instrumental in the war effort. Over the last two years, Trainbow has continued to bring joy across the Great Western Railway and is our way of showing how proud we are to support our colleagues and customers who are part of the LGBTQ+ community”.

Shane Andrews, chair of Network Rail’s Archway (LGBT+) employee network, who also works on the Wales and Western region of the organisation, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be joining with our friends at GWR in celebrating Pride month across Network Rail’s Wales and Western region and we join with them in celebrating the second anniversary of ‘Trainbow’. While Pride month is usually a time to join together with family, friends and colleagues to celebrate the diverse communities we both serve and live in, it is also an important time to reflect. It’s a time to remember that for many of us in the LGBT+ community, the laws and freedoms we now live under are relatively new, so we must continue to ensure we move forward towards a more inclusive society. The global pandemic will not be a barrier to us celebrating Pride month, we will still celebrate, but in a very different way this year.”

UK Pride month runs from 1st – 29th June, with GWR’s Pride week starting on 7 June.