Commuters face holiday delays

Trains will be diverted to Waterloo

Rail passengers travelling between London and Devon and Cornwall face delays next month because of engineering works near Paddington.

For four days over the August Bank Holiday weekend no trains will run into the terminus because all four lines at Slough will be closed.

Trains will be diverted from Reading to Waterloo.

For a week before that, only two tracks will be open.

Callum Collins, spokesman for Network Rail, the company responsible for the work, said: " The only alternative is to have it over a number of weekends, which would be more disruptive.

"There is no right time. We are damned if we leave it and we are criticised if we do the work to remedy the problem."

'Major work'

He added: "Bank holiday weekends are not the busiest time for the railways.

"We don't have commuters and possibly half as many people travel during Bank Holiday weekends.

"We need three days to do the sort of major work that needs to be done which is replacing a great number of points."

First Great Western said there would be an hourly service to Exeter and Plymouth and fewer trains to Penzance.

Spokesman Tim Bowcock, said: "It's better than having weekend after weekend of disruption, and it's testament to the reversal of years of under-investment that we have had in the past."