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Thursday 1 Jul 2004

NETWORK RAIL INVESTING £8M IN MAJOR TRACK RENEWALS

Region & Route:

| Southern

Vital engineering work to ensure the long-term future of the Great Western mainline will be completed by Network Rail during the August bank holiday weekend (28-30 August). £8m will be invested into the two relief lines, which carry local stopping services through Slough. During the 10-day project the tracks will be deluged by more than 100 engineers working around-the-clock to renew 14 crucial sets of points.  Seven sets of points will be replaced London-side of Slough station and the other seven, to the west of Slough station.   John Curley, Network Rail Route Director said: “This area of track has not been renewed since the ’70s and is coming to the end of its life. This essential work will improve the reliability of the infrastructure delivering better, more punctual train journeys for passengers. To achieve this huge amount of work, service alterations will be necessary from 21 to 31 August.  Passengers are encouraged to contact National Rail Services on 08457 48 49 50 or consult First Great Western’s website; www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk before travelling. ·        21 August to 27 August – there will be a reduced service between Reading and Paddington. ·        28-30 August (bank holiday weekend) there will be no direct train service between Paddington, Slough and Reading. - more – August Bank Holiday – 2 Alternative services will be in operation over the bank holiday weekend: ·        Passengers can travel between Reading and London Waterloo. ·        A reduced stopping-train with intermediate bus service from Paddington to Reading will run over the weekend.  o       Two trains an hour from Paddington to Langley o       Bus service from Langley to Maidenhead o       4 trains per hour between Maidenhead and Reading o       Windsor branch services replaced by buses o       Henley to Twyford train shuttle service o       Marlow and Greenford branches to run as normal ·        For those departing the Reading Festival, a bus service will run from Reading to London Paddington on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings until the early hours of the following morning. Timetable will be released nearer to the closure. Heathrow Express will operate a normal service during the engineering work. Reading station will also remain open throughout the bank holiday weekend and passengers travelling west from Reading will remain unaffected. All lines will reopen to passenger services in the early hours of Tuesday 31 August.  Similar work took place in the Slough area over the same bank holiday last year, which proved to be very successful.  The bank holiday has again been selected to ensure the minimum number of rail users are affected.  Significantly less people travel over these three days than on a normal Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Network Rail has been working closely with the train operating companies, who are now planning alternative arrangements for travellers.  Reading Borough Council has been involved in the planning process, as have the Reading Festival organisers who will be sending out travel details with all of their tickets. - more - August Bank Holiday – 3 John Curley continued: “We hope people understand the need for this work. It is essential for the assured future of the Great Western Mainline. We have worked closely with our industry partners and timetables for the alternative arrangements will be released by train operating companies nearer to the time.”