Major work on Chiltern Railways line

From Monday August 15 until Friday August 26 trains to Birmingham will run to Didcot Parkway for connecting First Great Western services to London Paddington.

Passengers from Leamington Spa and Banbury can alternatively use Cross Country services to Reading for connecting services to London Paddington.

Journey times will be increased due to these changes and passengers should check the Chiltern Railways website or specific August timetables for their particular journey.

The works form the final part of the transformational Chiltern Mainline project, a £250 million investment in railway infrastructure.

The project has already successfully achieved a number of significant milestones including the installation of points at several locations to enable the line speed to be increased and the realignment and improvement of track layout along the route.

Director of Chiltern Railways customer service Ian Baxter said: “The August engineering works form the final part of our Mainline project that will significantly reduce journey times along our route.

“We are always sorry to disappoint our passengers and understand that engineering works are never ideal.

“In planning the project we have done all we can to minimise closures, but we can not avoid an extended period of time to complete final elements and run extensive tests of the new infrastructure. August was chosen as it is the quietest period of the year in terms of passenger numbers and therefore we hope that we will be inconveniencing the least number of people possible.”

For more information go online.