Speed dating's love on the tracks

A train with additional pulling power is due to set off from London for Bath carrying singles who are hoping to meet someone special.

First Great Western is starting what it believes is the first speed-dating service on a train.

Passengers, who paid £45 for a ticket, travel first class from Paddington with a bell sounding every four minutes to signal time to swap partners.

After a break for dinner in Bath the train will return to London.

"Trains and train stations have long been portrayed as romantic settings for films and we're convinced they still are a great place for romance," said First Great Western's Customer Services Director, Glenda Lamont.

"On top of that, how much faster can speed dating be? Our trains travel at up to 125mph," she added.

The dating service was set up following a survey carried out by First Great Western which found 13% of people have been chatted up or asked out on a date while travelling by train.

One in ten men in the survey said they had asked someone on a date or chatted someone up on a train.