Flooding: Rail services update (From Oxford Mail)

Flooding: Rail services update

10:33am Sunday 20th January 2008 in News By William Crossley

The Oxford-Didcot railway line is expected to remain open throughout today, despite high river levels at Kennington, First Great Western said this morning.

Network Rail, which is monitoring the area round the clock, says that the water level in the River Thames is stable after yesterday's rain and is not expected to pose a threat to the tracks in the area.

Due to the cancellation of engineering work, the Didcot Parkway- Swindon line is open today and a special timetable is in operation on the routes to Bristol and South Wales.

Work is going ahead on the Chiltern Line, with buses replacing trains all day and CrossCountry trains are only running south of Oxford and north of Banbury, with buses bridging the gap.

On the Cotswold Line, the 11.08am FGW train from Great Malvern to London, which calls at Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough, will be replaced by road transport as far as Oxford due to staff shortages.

For the latest information, see First Great Western's website or call 08457 484950.