Media centre

Tuesday 22 Aug 2006

MEDIA INVITE: INVESTMENT AT WOOTTON BASSETT

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE Date: Friday 25 August Time: 2pm Location: Wootton Bassett – Station Road (B4041), bridge adjacent to The Beaufort Arms pub Media Contacts: Kirsty Anderson, 01793 515267 (Network Rail) Adrian Ruck, 01793 499419 (First Great Western) Members of the media are invited to view the start of works ahead of the upgrade of the railway between Swindon and Bristol.  Robbie Burns, Network Rail’s Western Route Director and Andrew Griffiths, First Great Western’s Regional Manager will be available for interview to discuss the works and the alternative travel arrangements for passengers. Network Rail is investing £750 million to improve train services between London Paddington and the West Country and South Wales over the next three years.  This will include the replacement of hundreds of miles of track.  The junction at Wootton Bassett, where the track splits to Bristol Temple Meads and to Bristol Parkway from Swindon, will be one of the first parts of the route to benefit from the investment. This important work will require a closure of the line between Swindon and Bristol Temple Meads and between Swindon and Bristol Parkway from Saturday 26 August to Sunday 3 September. Train services will be diverted via alternative routes adding extra time to journeys and buses will run between a number of stations to meet connections to South Wales, Bristol, Gloucester and Cheltenham, Thames Valley and London Paddington. London/South Wales services - There will be a limited peak-time direct train service between Bristol Parkway and London Paddington diverted on an alternative route. An hourly service in both directions diverted via Gloucester to Swindon not calling at Bristol Parkway but some calling additionally at Stonehouse, Stroud and Kemble. A bus link will run between Bristol Parkway and Swindon for train connections to and from London Paddington. A bus service will also run between Bristol Parkway and Filton Abbey Wood for connections to and from South Wales.

London/Bristol services - These services will be diverted between Bath Spa and Reading and will not call at Chippenham, Swindon or Didcot. A train shuttle service will also run between Bristol Temple Meads and Chippenham calling at Bath Spa, with a bus link between Chippenham and Swindon to connect into train services to London Paddington. A limited peak-time train service will run between Chippenham and London Paddington which will operate on an alternative route through to Reading.

London/Cheltenham Spa services - These services will be re-timed to incorporate the diverted South Wales services.

Swindon/Didcot Parkway – These stations will be served by a regular Swindon to London Paddington train service and by diverted South Wales services.

Swindon/Southampton services – A replacement bus service will run between Westbury and Swindon. Train services will run between Westbury and Southampton.

An amended timetable can be downloaded from www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk. A special timetable booklet and information leaflet is also available from stations.  Customers should check information posters displayed at stations and watch out for updates relayed on Customer Information Screens at stations.