Bank holiday trains hit

Major rail repairs will halve Bank Holiday services

Transport Minister Kim Howells has defended plans for major rail network engineering work over the bank holiday weekend which will close part of the line between south Wales and London.

Dr Howells dismissed any "poor timing" complaints and said it was better to do the repairs during the weekend rather than during the week when many people needed the railway to get to work.

In a robust defence of the repair strategy on BBC Radio Wales, Dr Howells said passengers had to accept "short-term pain" for "long-term gain."

The train delays will only add to predicted travel chaos over one of the busiest bank holidays of the year with thousands heading to Cardiff for the Wales-England clash and many more are driving to the coast or countryside.

First Great Western spokeswoman Edith Rogers said: "The extended line closure allows Network Rail to carry out the track improvements more effectively so we do not face piecemeal line closures over a much longer period."

The major engineering work will have a dramatic effect on trains between south Wales and the West and London with services being halved to enable new track to be laid.

Part of the Great Western main line, between Reading and London, will be closed from August 23 to 25, and passengers heading for London will end up at Waterloo, not Paddington.

It is a traditionally busy period on the line with the Reading Festival and Notting Hill Carnival taking place.

This week also sees two Rolling Stones concerts at Twickenham and a Wales v England rugby international at Cardiff.

First Great Western said those services which are running will be very busy and it advised passengers to reserve seats.

Dr Howells, the MP for Pontypridd, said he would be travelling by rail on the holiday weekend and said he sometimes found journey times shorter at times when work was being carried out.

Kim Howells - passengers must accept short-term pain

John Curley, Director of Network Rail's Great Western Region said: "This crucial engineering work is part of our commitment to provide a safe and reliable railway.

"It is important that we improve track quality in the Slough area and thereby avoid the need to impose severe line speed restrictions over several miles.

"We would like to apologise in advance to everyone who will be affected by this work and will do our utmost to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum."

As a result, part of the route between Reading and Paddington will be closed from 2300 BST from Friday August 22 until 0500 BST on Tuesday August 26 2003, though Paddington station will remain open with some local services operating, including Heathrow Express.

Reading station will be open for the duration of the work with a train service from Reading to London Waterloo available throughout, with up to four trains an hour during Bank Holiday Monday. Journey times between Reading and Waterloo will be approximately 75 minutes.

Network Rail is providing a large number of coaches from midnight to transport Reading festival goers from Reading station to Waterloo during the early hours of Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings.

Train times can be obtained from National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 while seat reservations and ticket purchases can be made on 08457 000 125.

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