CONTROL of trains running through Reading was successfully transferred to Network Rail’s Thames Valley Signalling Centre, alongside Didcot Parkway station, over the Christmas break.

Resignalling work covering 100 miles of track was carried out from Christmas Day until December 30 as part of a £600m, six-year project to expand capacity on the Great Western Main Line through Reading.

The signalling centre now controls the lines from Cholsey through Reading to Twyford and from Reading to Westbury in Wiltshire and Wokingham in Berkshire. It will take over the routes from Didcot to Oxford and Swindon under resignalling schemes later this decade.

Trains between Oxford and London were diverted via Banbury and the Chiltern Line during the work.