Rail disruption to continue this week
First Great Western customers to face more delays and revised services until Sunday April 12
COMMUTERS still reeling from a bank holiday weekend of travel chaos on the railways will face further disruption to their journeys this week to allow for major improvement work to take place in the Thames Valley.
First Great Western cust-omers faced delays and had to travel on replacement buses as Network Rail carried out re-signalling work and installed new lines over the Easter break.
This week, Network Rail’s Easter package of improvement work continues with the installation of new track and signalling equipment on the relief lines between Didcot and Reading.
From Tuesday to Saturday, there will be a revised train service through Reading.
Trains will not call at Pangbourne. A rail replacement bus service will operate between Tilehurst and Goring and Streatley, calling at Pangbourne.
On Saturday, there will be two trains an hour between London Paddington and Reading, calling at all stations.
On Sunday, there will be a reduced service between Reading, Newbury and Bedwyn, with trains every hour.
This will be extended to Westbury every two hours calling at Pewsey.
Also that day, there will be no services between Reading and Theale, with a rail replacement bus service operating instead, and no trains between Reading and Basing-stoke.
Two rail replacement bus services will run instead – one calling at all stations and the other running non-stop.
Over the Easter period new freight lines were installed at Reading that completely separate passenger and freight services for the first time, removing the delays that were previously experienced when some passenger services had to wait for slower freight trains to pass through before commencing their journeys.
The managing director for the western route at Network Rail, Patrick Hallgate, said: “We still have a significant amount of work to complete in the Thames Valley, which is why I would urge anyone travelling over the next week to check before they travel.
“We fully understand the frustration this can cause, but ask the public to please bear with us through this planned period of disruption, when we will be modernising and significantly improving this part of the rail network to ensure it is fit to meet the future demands that will be placed upon it.”
Check before you travel at www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/easter2015
