Great Western Railway has promised that 2019 is going to be a landmark year for train travel in Newbury.
Great Western Railway (GWR) will be delivering new trains, with more seats to Newbury.
The line between Reading and Newbury has been electrified and means GWR can run their new Electrostar trains direct from Newbury and station stops to the capital. They can also now extend their bi-mode Intercity Express Trains beyond Newbury and into Cornwall, Devon, and Wiltshire.
The IETs offer 24% more seats than the HSTs they replace. This will mean 4,500 extra seats a day between Newbury and London Paddington.
To achieve this improvement, Network Rail need to complete upgrade works between Reading Newbury. This means having to close the railway over the course of the year.
The first phase of the works is scheduled to take place over the following four day periods:
- Monday 12 March until Thursday 15 March
- Monday 23 April until Thursday 26 April
Train services will still operate from Theale to Reading. On the days above buses will replace trains from stations between Pewsey and Theale.
What did the officials say?
GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said “With the completion of electrification work we will be able to run brand new electric, and bi-mode Intercity Express Trains, to Newbury – supporting the local economy with more train seats, more comfortable and more frequent, journeys. In order to achieve this, however, Network Rail will need to undertake a significant programme of upgrade works. We have worked hard to make sure we have produced a train and bus service that supports the local economy while also allowing Network Rail the vital access it needs to the railway to electrify the route.”
Network Rail Route Managing Director Mark Langman said “This will boost local communities and provide a better service for passengers travelling in Berkshire, across the Thames Valley and west London. We are working very hard with GWR to minimise disruption to passengers while we deliver electrification to Newbury. Owing to the scale of the work we will be doing this over periods of several days, with the upgrade starting in March. I thank the communities in Newbury and across Berkshire for their patience in advance of the upgrade starts.”
- Visit the Great Western Railway website
For more information
Which means Class 387’s have extended their Thames Valley services even further as some are operating to Didcot Parkway and Reading. And some will extend to Newbury.
Next task for Network Rail is to electrify to Oxford so that Class 387’s can go to Oxford and to operate between London Paddington and Oxford. And possibly to electrify parts of the North Downs Line (Reading-Redhill) that isn’t electrified with DC 750v 3rd Rail so that Class 387’s can run on 3rd Rail between Reading-Gatwick Airport replacing the Class 165’s on other duties.