Weekend work on electrifying route ‘essential’

NETWORK Rail has defended electrification work being carried out this weekend on the mainline from south Wales to London, saying it is essential.

Train trips from Swansea to London will take five hours and passengers will have to travel via Oxford.

A spokeswoman said: “Electrification work in the Reading area this weekend is essential in order to enable Great Western Railway’s new fleet of electric trains to run between London Paddington and Didcot from January.

“We apologise to passengers affected by this work and urge anyone planning to travel through Reading this weekend to check before they travel.”

She also said: “Rail replacement buses will be in operation between Cardiff and Newport during weekends until October 29 as we work to modernise the south Wales main line. The Severn Tunnel will also be closed during weekends until October 29, as part of our annual maintenance programme.”

GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said: “We very much regret that Network Rail need to do this work at such short notice.

“However, the Thames Valley is one of the most popular rail corridors in the UK and we have promised the current fleet would be upgraded to provide much needed additional capacity and more comfortable, quieter journeys. We cannot achieve these improvements unless Network Rail do this work.”

GWR said that tickets to and from Paddington would be valid on Chiltern Railways trains between Oxford and Marylebone this weekend. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday, including Advance Purchase tickets booked on specific trains, can instead be used on Friday or Monday with no rebooking required.

A spokesman for Chiltern Railways, which runs the service from Oxford to London, said that it was adding extra seats to cope with demand.

He said: “We have added 8,684 extra seats over the weekend, however, Chiltern Railways will be the only route between Oxford and London this weekend so services will be busy.”