Great Western Railway (GWR) is warning passengers that there will be major reductions to its services this coming Sunday, July 15, with special timetables in operation.
GWR says a reduced service will run on many of its routes, due to a number of factors, including the football World Cup Final and the start of school summer holidays in some regions, which means a reduced number of staff are available to work.
Full details of the revised timetables will be available online on Saturday, July 14, for customers to check journeys before they travel. See gwr.com for more information.
However, in the case of the Cotswold Line, train services this weekend were already due to only operate on the section between Worcester and Moreton-in-Marsh, because of the Oxford resignalling project and other engineering work. Buses replace trains between Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxford and Didcot Parkway on both Saturday, July 14, and Sunday, July 15.
Long-distance services – including the routes between Paddington and Bristol, South Wales and Devon and Cornwall – will be worst affected, with some changes to local services in the West of England – the Worcester-Gloucester-Bristol service may be among those affected as a result.Local stopping services in the Thames Valley between Didcot, Reading and London are expected to run as normal.
Passengers are advised to travel as early as possible, and to consider switching their journeys to different days. To help with this, all ticket restrictions have been removed from services on Saturday, July 14, and Monday, July 16, so that customers with tickets for Sunday, including advance tickets for specified trains, can travel on other services.
Ticket acceptance has also been agreed with CrossCountry Trains where its services operate in the GWR area.
GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said:“We will have managers and volunteers throughout our network to help at stations and on board, but unfortunately we will not be able to deliver our planned timetable of services; and the trains we are able to operate will be extremely busy.
“I would encourage customers to travel on a different day if they are able to and we will happily offer refunds to those who choose not to travel.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this disruption will cause.”
- Those who choose not to travel will be entitled to a full refund on their unused tickets (the GWR £10 administration fee will be waived). To claim a refund, visit the GWR website.