Network Rail are reminding passengers in South Wales to check before they travel over Christmas and New Year as Network Rail upgrades the railway ahead of electric services being introduced.
In the Cardiff area, Network Rail will be working from 24 December to 2 January 2020 to switch on the electricity between St Brides, Newport and west of Cardiff Central.
The upgrade will mean from 6 January electric services will be in service on the Cardiff to London services.
From 24 December to 2 January 2020 at the east end of Newport station, Network Rail engineers will be working to replace a significant amount of track, renew the switches, replace the surface edges of platforms two, three and four and make some adjustments to the overhead line equipment.
This work will improve the resilience and reliability of the railway for passengers and enable trains to move between tracks in and out of the station more easily.
What did the officials say?
Bill Kelly, route director for Network Rail Wales and Borders, said:
“Electrification reaching Cardiff is a major milestone in the upgrade of the Great Western Mainline and the culmination of many years' work.
“The track work at Newport is also a significant investment to improve the resilience and reliability of the railway for passengers, for years to come.
“We would like to thank passengers and our lineside neighbours for bearing with us as we continue to deliver these major upgrades.
“We urge the public to remain vigilant at all times near the railway and to stay away from the electrified wires at all times.”
Bethan Jelfs, customer delivery director for Transport for Wales Rail Services said:
“Christmas and the New Year is always a busy time for rail travel with people commuting to work, Christmas shopping, attending parties, going on holiday and visiting family and friends.
“We will be working closely with our railway partners to ensure people get to their destinations safely.
“Services will start to shut down from 8pm on Christmas Eve and our message is very much that customers should always check before they travel and allow extra time for their journeys wherever possible.”
GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said:
“It's absolutely essential that Network Rail do this work, and Christmas is the only time that we can do it. Unfortunately, this means that we are not able to offer services between Cardiff and Bristol Parkway from Friday 27 December to Wednesday 1 January.
“With industrial action on the South Western Railway network there are limited options for alternative travel on those dates and we advise customers to carefully consider this before they travel.
“A reduced service will be back running on the 28 December, with our full and improved timetable from Thursday 2 January. I am grateful to customers for their patience during these works.”
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Shame that Network Rail will not extend the electrification beyond Cardiff Central to Swansea.
Not to mention the electrification to Oxford that is also postponed or put on hold.