GWR has been in touch to alert me to the fact that Network Rail will be carrying out essential upgrades to the track in the Acton area between Friday 18 April and Monday 21 April. This, no doubt, means a degree of inevitable chaos over Easter, with reduced timetables between Reading and Paddington.
While I accept essential upgrades are needed in the interests of both safety and reliability, I am acutely aware of the frustrations many of my constituents have with the current train services. There are too many tales of trains being cancelled and delays. Added to this, trains are crowded, prices are high and the reduced service between London and Great Bedwyn remains a thorny issue.
Following on from the work I did on this with Laura Farris in the last government, I met recently with neighbouring MP Lee Dillon, and the tenacious team at Bedwyn Trains Passenger Group. Between us, we intend to keep the pressure on to restore the timetable to how it was pre-pandemic.
To this end, I was pleased to learn that GWR has been given permission by the DfT to look at securing additional rolling stock, although these new trains will take a while to come into service as a substantial number of drivers and guards need to be trained. This is good news as it will ultimately allow GWR to review its future timetable provision, including potentially for Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn.
The preferred long-term solution would be further electrification of the line through to Westbury and the restoration of an additional platform at Westbury station, but there seems little prospect of funding for these schemes at the moment. GWR also tell me they are looking at the long-term replacement of their local diesel trains with battery-electric trains. Again, this would allow a review of timetabling but is subject to securing funding and unlikely to be in service until at least the 2030s.
I will continue to do all I can to improve the commute for the large number of constituents who work in or regularly travel to London - many of whom moved to the area in recent years in order to make use of the train service into Paddington!
