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The A371 road has fully reopened to road traffic today (2 December) as Network Rail completes the £1.2m improvement scheme to significantly strengthen the Ansford overbridge at Castle Cary.

Network Rail is inviting young people from across the Thames Valley area to its delivery unit in Reading this weekend to experience life as a railway apprentice and meet the people and high-tech kit involved in keeping Britain’s rail network running.

Network Rail is inviting young people from across the Oxfordshire and Thames Valley regions to its delivery unit in Didcot to experience life as a railway apprentice and meet the people and high-tech kit involved in keeping Britain’s rail network running.

The construction of a new 2km viaduct in Reading has reached a key milestone after the first pre-cast concrete beams, which will form the base that trains will run on, were lifted into place.

New platforms, new lifts, new information systems, new concourses, new footbridges, new track; all have featured as record investment has been ploughed into the railway in the Thames Valley over the past six months.

Nearly £2m a day have been invested in improving the railway on the Western route over the last six months, new figures from Network Rail show. This brings a total of £342m worth of investment to the railways across the south west of England and the Thames Valley, benefitting key towns and cities including Swindon, Chippenham, Bath, Bristol, Kemble, Taunton and Gloucester.

Passengers in Reading are set to benefit as six new retailers set-up shop on the station's new passenger bridge in April 2014.

Network Rail's chief information officer is so concerned about the rapid slide in the number of women entering the UK's IT sector, she has launched a new competition for girls which will see the company pay the winner's first year of university fees.