Following the privatisation of British Rail in 1997, services at Bristol Parkway were franchised to several different train operating companies. South Wales Main Line services were provided by Great Western Trains, which was later rebranded as First Great Western; services from Bristol to Birmingham and the north were operated by Virgin CrossCountry; and local services were franchised to Wales & West, which was in turn succeeded in 2001 by Wessex Trains. The Wessex franchise was amalgamated with the Great Western franchise into the Greater Western franchise from 2006, and awarded to First Great Western, which became known as Great Western Railway in 2016. Virgin CrossCountry services were taken over by Arriva CrossCountry in 2007.