MAJOR railway lines are closed due to a gas leak leaving commuters stranded in rush hour – with the disruption expected to last all day.
Passengers are urged not to travel between Reading and Swindon as engineers frantically attempt to fix the issue, while other routes are seeing significant delays.
The gas leak close to railway land at Didcot Parkway in South Oxfordshire is expected to cause severe disruption throughout Wednesday.
The Reading-Didcot section of the route is the gateway from Paddington towards Swindon, Bristol, Bath, South Wales, Cheltenham and other parts of the West Country.
Diversions are in place but Great Western Rail is cancelling some services outright because trains can’t get through Reading-Didcot.
A total of 72 services to and from Didcot are cancelled, while 39 have been axed at Oxford and 45 at Reading.
One social media user posted a photo from Swindon showing trains to Paddington cancelled at 6am.
They wrote: “Apparently there’s been a gas leak around Didcot Parkway so they’ve cancelled most of the services, and no replacement bus services running either.
“The staff at Swindon reckon this will last all day and probably tomorrow.”
Another person responded: “Absolutely ridiculous… not good enough.”
GWR is running roughly one train an hour Paddington-Bath/Bristol via a diversionary route – a fraction of the normal capacity.
It has warned only to travel if absolutely necessary.
Replacement buses are running between Swindon, Didcot and Reading but Network Rail says capacity won’t be enough for everyone.
CrossCountry is also telling passengers not to travel between Reading and Oxford – with one person responding to the company’s X post with: “Thanks for ruining my whole day.”
Network Rail said: “Engineers from gas distribution company SGN are on site working to rectify the problem as quickly and safely as possible.
“Network Rail and train operators are working together to manage the impact on passengers, but normal services cannot operate until the leak has been repaired because the railway falls within the safety exclusion zone.
“Severe disruption is expected to long-distance services that would usually travel through Didcot, and passengers are being warned that trains able to run either side of the affected area will be extremely busy.
“GWR will continue to operate as many trains as possible either side of the incident.”
GWR expects to be able to operate services between:
- Reading and London Paddington
- Swindon and Cheltenham Spa
- Swindon and Chippenham/Bath/Bristol
- South Wales to Bristol Temple Meads
- Worcester and Oxford
- An hourly service between London Paddington and Bath/Bristol via an alternative, diversionary route
- Oxford and Didcot
- An hourly service Bristol Temple Meads and Didcot
- Usual timetabled services that do not run between Reading and Didcot
- A limited bus replacement service will operate between Swindon, Didcot and Reading