Media centre

Thursday 11 Dec 2014

Army of 2,500 railway engineers to deliver a bigger, better railway for the west, south west and Thames Valley over Christmas

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Thousands of passengers and freight users are set to benefit from one of the biggest Christmas and New Year investment programmes carried out on the Western route over recent years.

An army of approximately 2,500 engineers will be spending their Christmas Day, and the days that follow, working on the Western route – which connects London with the Thames Valley, the west and south west of England – to deliver improvements, including increased capacity and reduced journey times, for passengers who travel on this part of the network.

Patrick Hallgate, Network Rail’s managing director for the Western route, said: “Making the railway better is what we aim to do everyday and our nationwide investment programme this Christmas, the biggest yet, is fully focussed on delivering a better service for passengers.

“Passenger numbers are continuing to increase with demand for journeys into London from the west set to double within 30 years. This Christmas investment programme will play a key part in helping us to meet this demand and make improvements to this part of the rail network.”

The major investment schemes on the Western route this Christmas include:

• Bristol: The removal of the mail conveyor at Temple Meads station on Christmas Day will signal the start of work to electrify the Great Western Main Line in the south west. This removal is essential to make room for the overhead electric wires, paving the way for the arrival of longer, faster, quieter and greener electric trains by 2017.

• Reading: One of the last pieces of the jigsaw to unblock the notorious train bottleneck around Reading station will be completed with the completion of a newly-built viaduct to the west of the station, leading to smoother, more reliable services.
• Stockley, west London: At 1,750 metres in length the Stockley Flyover is the largest single span bridge to have been installed anywhere on the Great Western railway since the days of Brunel. Its completion over Christmas will mean that from next year Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express services will be able to join the Great Western Main Line without delaying, or being delayed, by other trains using the route.

The investment on the Western route forms part of a £200m investment programme across Britain that will see new station facilities, new platforms, new flyovers, new junctions and thousands of pieces of new, more reliable equipment installed and delivered over Christmas. This is 25% more improvement work than last year’s record programme.

The majority of this work will have little or no planned impact on passengers, with a significant proportion to be completed before services resume on Saturday 27 December (no services run on Christmas Day with very limited services running on Boxing Day). The exception to this on the Western route is the major improvement work taking place at Reading. Passengers are therefore advised to check rail websites for travel information if their journeys involve passing through this location.

Patrick concluded: “This is an exciting time for the rail network and in particular the Western route, which is benefitting from huge investment to modernise and significantly improve it.

“I am conscious that many people want to use the railway during the festive season to reunite with their families and I apologise that some of our work could interrupt their travel plans. However, I ask that you please bear with us through this temporary period, when crucial work will be taking place to pave the way for more capacity and reduced journey times, and ultimately a better travelling experience for passengers.”