FASTER bus services have been provided by Great Western Railway after commuters criticised being forced to spend up to six hours travelling while engineering work takes place.

Work by Network Rail to electrify tracks between Newbury and Reading is taking place from today until Thursday and will continue on selected weekdays throughout the year until December.

During this time, commuters are using replacement bus services which had been scheduled to take between five and six hours each day.

However, a new bus service has been announced to ease travel frustrations and reduce travel time to three hours 30 minutes.

The timetable is showing as, from today:

0625 bus depart Bedwyn

0640 bus picks up Hungerford

0725 bus arrives Reading

0745 train departs Reading

0811 train arrives Paddington

Return

1830 train departs Paddington

1855 train arrives Reading

1908 bus departs Reading

2003 bus arrives Hungerford

2018 bus arrives Bedwyn

During the closures season tickets, from Bedwyn, will be valid at Swindon, Chippenham, Didcot, Salisbury, Grateley, Andover, Whitchurch, Overton or Basingstoke.