Road transport (buses) were organised by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to Redhill (to connect into Gatwick) and Wokingham staff were sending passengers for Gatwick via Clapham Junction.
Unfortunately, it can take a little time procuring vehicles at short notice on a Bank Holiday, especially when over 200 have been drafted in to organise the service around Reading (though I suspect some of these were diverted to Guildford in the end).
The line was reopened at approx 1600.

There were a few teething troubles yesterday, a number of issues contributed, but feedback has been much more positive today.  Services through Banbury have been running better and with one exception (power car technical) the SW services have operated well.  Buses have run smoothly around Reading too.

We are all geared up for a busier day tomorrow as some more people return to work....

Sorry Industry Insider, there must have been another bridge in the Oxford area which had works cancelled.  Either that or the same bridge had more extensive work planned?

There are engineering works planned at various times but only on the scale of normal engineering work at weekends the like of which are familiar.
There will be no full scale blockade a la the current one until Christmas 2012, but that will be a full closure on all lines.

Unfortunately, this was overrunning by 12 hours and was eventually cancelled in the interests of allowing the diverted services avoiding Reading to be able to run as planned today.

The 3 Guineas is remaining open, and yes as its listed not much is being done to it, but I believe it is taking on extra accommodation.

Yes, a retaining wall IS being built on the North side.

After Christmas, work on the 3 Guineas and heritage buildings will commence which will have more visibility to passengers.  Then the visible works start in earnest, beginning with the building of the new platform 4 (i.e. next to 4A and B).  Earthworks and the retaining wall will continue to progress to the north of the station.

On Saturday, there are no HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))'s direct from Cardiff to Bath Spa, however due to engineering work on Sunday there are HST's running at 15 minutes past every hour to London which will be diverted and call at Bath Spa.  Not sure if that is any help to you but the only option for a direct HST service.
On Saturday, the only way to use FGW^▸ (First Great Western) HST's would be to change at Swindon.  Journey planner probably wont show this as it may be an invalid route as it doubles back on itself towards Bristol.

Further to the above, confirmation has been given that there will be a service from BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative)) to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) on the next 2 Sundays at 1500, calling at Bath Spa and Reading, as well as a journey from PAD to BTM departing at 1503 calling at Reading and Bath Spa.
Whilst this wont solve the whole overcrowding issue, it will help the problems which occurred mid-afternoon last week and I am impressed at how quickly there was a reaction to the feedback that was given following last weeks experiences.

The original 3rd platform had been dropped to save money, but 10 days ago we heard it had been reinstated into the works.  As far as the station is concerned, all the original proposals are now going ahead.   

Following feedback about severe overcrowding on services last Sunday between Paddington, Reading & Bristol (made much worse than normal due to the engineering work Swindon-Didcot and South Wales services being combined with BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative)) ones), FGW^▸ (First Great Western) has applied to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) for an extra path in each direction.

It is intended that there will be a HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) 2+7 set running PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-BTM at approximately 1500 and one running BTM-PAD at approximately 1503.  Both services to operate via Berks & Hants.  Exact timings still being put together, but if approved by NR should be available to book soon.

This application is for the next 4 weeks whilst the Swindon-Didcot possession is in place, though timings may be amended for weeks 3 and 4 due to other timetabling issues.

Unfortunately services were pretty poor to most destinations last night.  The 1822 was diverted because it was right behind the 1750 (which was running on the time of the 1822) and it was likely to be further delayed along the single line up the Cotswolds.  It left Reading lightly loaded, but was a better prospect for Worcester and Hereford passengers than travelling on the stopping service through the Cotswolds.
Cross Country services were very badly delayed all day, the turbos were suffering from poor rail conditions and had to brake more gently (causing  delays) and the Gatwick service was affected by the incident near Guildford where a SWT^▸ (South West Trains) train was hit by a lorry. 
There were a couple of train failures around the patch and all in all a very bad evening.

The refurbishment programme is scheduled to run another 16 months.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=1984

gives more information

As I said before, and others have attested, we are generally very vigilant with such items.  It is true, however, that whilst we have to be vigilant all the time, a prospective terrorist has to be lucky just once.

Unfortunately, members of the public are often very forgetful about their luggage and at Reading we get dozens of "lost" (or should that be "found"?) bags and cases every week, not to mention the mobiles and wallets, which must be replicated to varying degrees at every station in the country.  And I certainly wouldn't wish to see the Amtrak method here.

Thank you for identifying the location and I can now use the CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) and identify any staff in the vicinity and use it as a good example to help them improve on their observation and vigilance.

Could you please advise me which platform so I can identify the staff by checking the CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) and if necessary rebriefing them?

Of course, we take security seriously and staff often identify/remove unattended items.  It is true, however, that when working on a busy platform with many other duties to attend to, an "normal" looking piece of luggage can possibly be overlooked for a time.  That is why we have the regular announcements urging passengers to assist us in highlighting anything which looks unusual or suspicious, and I thank you for being sufficiently vigilant in bringing it to the attention of our staff on this occasion.

I can assure you that the whole station is fully checked at least every hour 24/7 by our staff and detailed records are kept.  Additionally, we are subject to frequent spot checks by TRANSEC who "hide" packages and report on how long it takes us to find them.  999 times out of 1000, luggage such as you saw will be reunited with people who have popped into a shop, or possibly boarded a train and left it behind on the platform, however we are all aware it only takes one slip to have a serious incident.