Christmas rail arrangements

Paddington station and the line from Swindon to Reading will be shut down on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with work running into December 27 and 28. Alternative trains will run from Swindon to Waterloo. GWR will be running a revised timetable throughout the festive period right up until Sunday, January 3.

A Network Rail spokesman said that the work being carried out over Christmas mainly consisted of work to prepare for the arrival of Crossrail. Roger Newman, chairman of West Wiltshire Rail Users Group, said there would be a real long-term benefit from the engineering work for passengers from Wiltshire heading east. He added that, in the longer term, Crossrail would have real benefits for passengers from the West who wanted to get across London, as they could leave mainline services at Reading and join a Crossrail service to the East End.  He said: “It will save the scramble at Paddington to get onto the Underground, you will bypass Paddington and go under the West End and come out at the East End of London, which will make travel easier.”

The final GWR trains will depart on Christmas Eve before 9.30pm, with no trains then running until Sunday, December 27.

GWR is advising passengers to check all journey times at www.gwr.com before leaving to ensure they don’t miss the last train home.