No major transport disruptions expected at Christmas (From This Is Wiltshire)

No major transport disruptions expected at Christmas

11:00am Wednesday 2nd December 2009 in

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CHRISTMAS commuters can breath a festive sigh of relief after it was revealed that there will be no major disruption to public transport over the holiday period.

Despite reports in some media that trains from London to Swindon would grind to a halt between Christmas Eve and January 3, Network Rail insists it will be business as usual.

Although the line from Bristol to Newport will be affected by engineering works trains, to and from Swindon will operate normally – apart from the traditional Christmas Day and Boxing Day shutdown.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said: “At Network Rail, we will persist in finding ways to carry out improvement work with least impact on passengers. We also want to help passengers make the best travel decisions by informing them early, by planning our improvement work at least 18 months in advance.

“This Christmas season, the majority of the rail network in the South West of England will be operating normal service and passengers in the Swindon area will continue to be served by trains.

“For those looking to South Wales, we will be making use of the quieter travel period to improve the railway in Newport and Bristol area, investing £150m to upgrade signals and track. Passengers are advised to plan now so that they can be better informed of any changes between December 27 and January 3.”

On the buses Thamesdown Transport will not run any services on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day. On Christmas Eve there will be normal services until 8pm and the same on New Year’s Eve.