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• Passengers and shoppers invited to attend reindeer meet and greet and retailer giveaway at London Paddington station
• Network Rail will be investing £103m in improving and upgrading the rail network over the Christmas period
• Passengers travelling from the west are advised to plan ahead as upgrade work means Paddington will have no overground trains running between December 24 and 29 (inclusive).

Oxford residents will be safer and school children will benefit from a bigger playground thanks to a new footbridge installed over the railway by Network Rail.

Works to upgrade the railway through Avonmouth are set to take place over four weekends in December and January as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers.

Residents living near Bristol Parkway station have been invited to a drop-in event to find out more about upcoming work to prepare the Great Western Main Line for electrification as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers.

Passengers and residents in Cheltenham will soon benefit from a safer, more reliable level crossing on Alstone Lane as Network Rail prepares to carry out a full renewal of the crossing’s equipment.

The government has confirmed this morning that an additional £10m in funding will be provided for Network Rail’s proposed resilience scheme to ensure long-term protection for the railway and the community between Exeter and Newton Abbot.