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Monday 21 Aug 2017

REMINDER: Passengers urged to check before travelling ahead of railway upgrade work over the August bank holiday weekend

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Rail passengers are being urged to check before they travel ahead of essential modernisation work in Cardiff. The work forms part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan for Wales to improve services for passengers.

Services between Newport and Cardiff will be reduced until 3 September 2017, with a rail replacement bus in operation between the two cities over the August bank holiday. 

Travelling over the bank holiday weekend?

• Buses will replace trains between Newport and Cardiff (Saturday 26 August – 13:00 on Monday 28 August)
• Services will continue to run between Swansea and Cardiff.
• Services to London will start at Newport and will be diverted via Patchway instead of Bristol Parkway due to upgrade work in the Bristol area.

Network Rail engineers will be working day and night over the bank holiday weekend to continue to prepare the stretch of railway between London and Cardiff for the overhead wires and posts needed to power trains running on electricity. The work includes demolishing one half of Splott Road bridge, which is currently closed to traffic until 4 September, and raising Adamsdown footbridge, known as “Black Bridge”, which will be closed over the bank holiday weekend.

Andy Thomas, Network Rail managing director, Wales, said: “As part of our Railway Upgrade Plan, we’re working over the bank holiday weekend to prepare for the new fleet of bi-mode trains.

“We are working closely with Arriva Trains Wales and Great Western Railway to improve services for passengers. The new Intercity Express trains will run on electric and diesel, provide extra seats with more legroom for passengers, and benefit from improved on-board wifi.  

“We would like to thank residents and passengers for their patience and would urge everyone to check before travelling over the bank holiday weekend.”

Lynne Milligan, customer services director at Arriva Trains Wales said: “We will be working closely with our partners in Network Rail to ensure our customers experience as little disruption to their journeys as possible whilst this essential work goes ahead. All customers should look to plan ahead before travel so they are aware whether there is an impact on their journey.”

GWR’s development manager Wales, Mark Youngman said: “The first Intercity Express Train to enter passenger service is just a number of months away; providing over a fifth more seats per train and with the completion of electrification quicker journeys.

“The work next week is a key part of Network Rail’s upgrade plans, helping GWR to take full advantage of our new fleet and the greatest step-change in experience for our passengers in a generation.”

Passengers are urged to ‘check before they travel’ as journeys will be less frequent and may be longer during these works. More detail on the diverted rail services and replacement buses as well as up to date journey information can be found via http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ or by calling Travel Line Cymru on 0800 464 0000.