Trains between Bristol Parkway and Newport will be affected by 13 days of engineering work taking place at the end of October, and into the beginning of November.
Network Rail is to replace a railway bridge over Gipsy Patch Lane in Little Stoke, South Gloucestershire – near to Patchway station between Sunday 25 October and Friday 6 November. The bridge is being replaced to allow a widened road to run underneath the railway and to pave the way for an improved bus metro.
GWR Head of Commercial Development (interim), Dan Okey said: “This essential work ties-in with our wider plans for MetroWest to improve integrated public transport links in the city, providing more services and increased capacity.
“We have been working hard to make sure that people can be confident to travel safely, and that includes running as many trains and carriages as we can to make extra room, as well as enhanced cleaning and social distancing measures.
“Please do however, check before you travel and be considerate of others.”
During the work trains between London and South Wales will be diverted via an alternative route, extending journey times by around 50 minutes, and will not call at Bristol Parkway.
An hourly train service will operate between London Paddington and Bristol Parkway on weekdays at peak times only; direct trains between London and South Wales will operate all day via Gloucester, avoiding Bristol; and between London and Bristol Temple Meads, for connecting services to Bristol Parkway.
Replacement bus services will operate between Bristol Parkway and Newport.
Trains between Portsmouth Harbour and Cardiff Central will terminate at Bristol Parkway, where buses will replace trains to Newport.
Please note that replacement bus services may be in demand at the busiest times of day, so it might be better to travel outside of these periods.
Trains between Taunton and Cardiff Central will terminate at Bristol Temple Meads instead.
With more people starting to use trains again operators are reminding passengers to:
- plan ahead – travel at quieter times where they can, buy a ticket online and in advance, and book ahead if you need travel assistance
- consider others – wear a face covering unless you’re exempt, not travelling if you have Covid symptoms and consider others, not all disabilities can be seen
- stay safe – maintaining your distance wherever possible; wash your hands and carry hand sanitiser, paying contactless where you can
GWR has been providing rail services throughout the pandemic and has worked to ensure that these are as safe as possible. This includes increased cleaning regimes and the use of a virucidal spray; extra staff at key stations to offer help and guidance; and processes in place to help customers maintain a safe distance where possible such as restricting the number of reservations available.
In addition, there will be no direct trains running between London Paddington and Cheltenham Spa on Sunday 25 October or Sunday 1 November.
Instead, diverted services for South Wales will call at Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse and Gloucester on these dates; customers can then change at Gloucester for trains to Cheltenham Spa.
Track renewal work is also planned between Bristol Temple Meads and Lawrence Hill on the weekend of Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October.
As a result, additional replacement buses will run between Bristol Temple Meads and Newport on Sunday 25 October only.
The bridge is being replaced on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council as part of the Council’s metrobus scheme to help provide faster and more reliable sustainable public transport.
For more information please visit GWR.com/Bristol.
Photo credit: South Gloucestershire Council.
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