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Thursday 19 Jun 2025

Passengers urged to plan ahead as flood mitigation work takes place in Gloucestershire next month

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Western

Passengers planning to travel between Swindon and Bristol Parkway are being urged to plan ahead as Network Rail begins the latest stage of work to mitigate the impacts of flooding on the railway through Gloucestershire in July.

From Monday 7 to Sunday 13 July (inclusive), work will take place around the clock in and around Chipping Sodbury tunnel.

200m of track will be raised by 20cm at the western end of the tunnel and overhead electric wires will be adjusted accordingly. Drainage channels through the entire tunnel will also be dredged to allow more water to be collected.

Two pumps that remove water from the railway will be replaced at the western end of the tunnel, and surveys and design work will take place to replace two pumps at the eastern end of the tunnel in the future.

During this time, the railway will be closed between Swindon and Bristol Parkway, meaning trains will divert via Chippenham and Bath and will take longer than usual. Additional peak-time trains will run between London Paddington and Swindon.

Follow-up work also means services between London and South Wales will be diverted and take longer than usual on Sunday 20^th July.

For more information and to plan journeys, visit nationalrail.co.uk or GWR.com.

Network Rail project manager George Barratt said:

"It’s important passengers check their journeys in advance whilst we undertake this vital work to mitigate the impacts of flooding on the railway, as trains between Swindon and Bristol Parkway will take longer than usual, and there will be fewer services operating between south Wales and London.

"As part of our ongoing scheme to alleviate the impacts of flooding in the area, this work will help improve reliability and make the railway more resilient.”

GWR station manager for Bristol Parkway Marcus Deegan said:

“This work forms part of an ongoing programme of investment, helping to ensure we can continue to provide consistent and reliable services.

“To maintain rail connections to and from South Wales, some of our trains will use a different route from normal, making journeys longer. Unfortunately, this also means the frequency of services between London and South Wales will also have to be reduced from half-hourly to hourly. But we will provide additional trains between London Paddington and Swindon at peak periods Monday to Friday.”

This work is the latest in a wider scheme to ease the effect of flooding on the railway and in the surrounding area. Network Rail are working alongside the Environment Agency, South Gloucestershire Council, the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and Wessex Water to find long-term solutions.

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