https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/planned-engineering Track renewal work will affect trains between Didcot Parkway and Bristol Parkway or Chippenham.
Trains between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads or Swansea will use an alternative route – not stopping at Didcot Parkway, Swindon or Chippenham.
Trains will still run between Swindon and Cheltenham Spa, plus trains will run between Chippenham and Westbury or Frome.
Some trains will also be running between Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads on Saturdays only.
Replacement buses are planned between Swindon and:
Didcot Parkway
Reading (non-stop)
Bristol Parkway (weekend of 29/30 March only)
Chippenham (Saturday) or Bath Spa (Sunday)
Important to note
On Sundays a reduced train service will be running hourly between London Paddington and South Wales via Bristol Temple Meads.
Nothing unusual about this engineering work and its location. It’s the last paragraph that is of note with Bristol and South Wales services merged with no additional ‘peak hours’ Bristol to London services in the afternoon.
My guess is this is down to ongoing train crew issues with
GWR▸ covering their back sides, something they did the last time work was taking place in the Swindon area merging both Bristol and South Wales services, but at the last minute.
Could be some very busy trains, particularly in the afternoon and evening.
However, the stop at Reading is set down only in the up direction and pick up only in the down direction with GWR running an hourly shuttle between Reading and Paddington. Sensible moves which may help a bit to mitigate the reduction in services.
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