London Paddington station will be closed over the Black Friday weekend of November 28-29, with Great Western Railway (GWR) warning passengers to expect major disruption.
The station, the third busiest in the country with 69.9 million passengers a year, will be shut while Network Rail carries out a £27.8 million upgrade to Dolphin Junction in Slough. The closure will also affect sports fans, as an international rugby match is planned at Twickenham that weekend.
Services diverted to Euston
All high speed services to and from Bristol and South Wales will instead terminate at London Euston. Trains will bypass Reading and Didcot Parkway, with replacement bus services operating between stations such as Ealing Broadway and Slough.
The Night Riviera sleeper service will still run from London Paddington on the Friday evening, but the service from Penzance will go to London Euston on Saturday and Sunday.
Alternative routes and queuing systems
Passengers travelling between Reading and London can use GWR services to Guildford, where they can change for trains to and from London Waterloo. Additional GWR trains will run non-stop between Reading and Guildford, completing the journey in around 30 minutes.
A queuing system will be in place at Reading station for GWR trains for Guildford and Gatwick Airport, or South Western Railway (SWR) trains for Twickenham and London Waterloo. GWR has warned that SWR services between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside or Reading are expected to be extremely busy.
Other lines affected
Heathrow Express trains and the Elizabeth line will not operate from London Paddington. The Elizabeth line will run a reduced service between Reading and Maidenhead only. According to GWR, only Bakerloo line services will be stopping at Paddington during the weekend.
Ross Mahoney, project director for Network Rail's Great Western route, said: "Dolphin Junction is one of the busiest and most important parts of the Great Western Main Line, carrying thousands of passengers every day between London, the Thames Valley, the South West and Wales."
He added: "This investment will replace ageing equipment with modern technology and improve the track layout, helping trains move through the junction more smoothly and efficiently. This will mean less congestion and more reliable journeys for passengers across the route."
Further work is planned over the festive period. Mahoney said: "We've worked closely with train operators to keep people moving throughout these closures, but there will be changes to services while the work is carried out. Passengers travelling over the weekend of 28 and 29 November and during the Christmas and New Year period should plan ahead and check before they travel."
He added: "We know this work will cause disruption in the short term, and we'd like to thank passengers and freight customers for their patience. Once complete, these upgrades will help create a more dependable railway, supporting better performance and smoother journeys for years to come."
