CHIPPENHAM rail passengers travelling towards Bristol or London are gearing themselves up for a difficult commute this summer.

The M4 is expected to get busier at peak times as people take to their cars to avoid a 40-minute journey between Chippenham and Bath.

The disruption is because of work to lower the Great Western mainline to accommodate new Super Express electric trains from summer 2017.

First Great Western is promising a more frequent service and more seats, and a Chippenham to London journey time reduced by 10-15 minutes by December 2018, but ahead of that there will be sacrifices to make.

There are normally two trains an hour between Chippenham and London Paddington. Between July 18 and 31 this will reduce to one an hour, but will remain the usual duration, an average 80 minutes.

For passengers going from Chippenham to Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads during this period, not only will their trains be cut to one every hour, they will also go a different route to normal and so take 40 minutes to Bath rather than 10.

In a second phase of work, lasting the whole of August, there will again be an hourly service from Chippenham to London Paddington.

There will be no trains at all between Chippenham and Bath Spa. Replacement buses will operate with the same frequency but will take about 40 minutes. For those going on from Bath to Bristol, there will be three trains running an hour.

Luke Bigwood is one of many of Good Energy's employees who use the train to get to work in Station Hill from Bristol. Their journey time will be increased by half an hour during the seven weeks.

He said he would be forced into the car while work was going on but thought the disturbance would be worth it in the long run.

He said: "The alternative routes and extra time will probably be too much for me so I am looking to car share with colleagues who are also travelling from Bristol. I think there will be more cars on the M4 during this period though.

"It will be a real inconvenience but overall I’m happy to put up with it if it means a faster service with more capacity. It’s a relatively short period of disruption in the grand scale of things.

"A faster service is a good thing for me as I regularly get the train to London for meetings, so quicker access will be handy."