In a statement issued on Sunday (February 16) First Great Western railways said services from and to London Paddington would be back to ‘near-normal’ from Monday morning after signalling and safety equipment east of Reading was submerged by floodwater:
“Following work on signalling and track in the Maidenhead area over the weekend, we anticipate being able to run a near-normal train service into and out of London Paddington from Monday, 17 February.”
“The majority of long distance and London and Thames Valley local services can now run as normal, although there may still be some delays through the affected area.”
“Although signalling equipment is still under several feet of floodwater, thanks to some innovative thinking by Network Rail a temporary system has been put in place for the next few weeks until the water recedes.”
However it appears that services from Bedwyn will still be finishing at Reading with passengers having to change onto mainline services. And no trains from Paddington will run through to Bedwyn as far ahead as Friday (February 21).
Flooding and storm damage continues to affect FGW services in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
Aldbourne gets another dose of flood waters – is there more still to come?
