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Thousands of passengers are set to benefit from major improvement work taking place in the Thames Valley this Easter, the biggest package of improvement work carried out on the Western route to date.

Foxhall Road bridge in Didcot reopened yesterday, Tuesday 17 February, after work to prepare it for the electrification of the railway was completed along with improvement work to make the bridge more accessible and safer for its users.

Network Rail is seeking to recruit 22 young people from the south west for its award-winning apprenticeship scheme, as it continues the largest investment into the railway since Victorian times.

Wolvercote residents are invited to attend a drop-in event to find out more about the work in their area to upgrade the railway line between Oxford and Bicester.

People across the west, south west and Thames Valley can learn about and have their say at a series of public exhibitions being held this month, on plans for a new link connecting the railway into Paddington from the west with London Heathrow airport.

On the first anniversary of the notorious storms at Dawlish, time-lapse photography shows the extensive work undertaken by Network Rail’s ‘orange army’ over the last year to restore the south west’s rail connection and make the area more resilient for the future.

The footbridge over the railway at Templars Firs reopened yesterday, Monday 2 February, after work to prepare it for electrification was completed on time.

Pedestrians using the footpath over the railway line at Highfield Lane in Maidenhead will notice that it is significantly brighter from today following the installation of a mural designed by pupils from Cox Green School.