Ref. 24980-27ENGINEERING work threatens to cause havoc with rail commuters travelling between London and Swindon this week and over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Services out of Swindon were today operating at one an hour after two of the four lines at Slough were closed for engineering work.

And things are set to worsen later this week over the Bank Holiday weekend when all four lines at Slough will be closed and services between Bristol, Swindon and London will be terminated at Reading.

Part of the route between Reading and Paddington station will be closed from 11pm on Friday until 5am on Tuesday, although Paddington station will remain open with some local services, like the Heathrow Express, continuing.

First Great Western, the region's biggest train operator, has published an emergency timetable for the long weekend.

Network Rail, the company responsible for the upkeep of Britain's rail infrastructure, denied it had picked one of the worst times to carry out the work and said it had chosen the date after consulting with industry partners and passenger groups.

John Curley, Network Rail's regional director, said: "This crucial engineering work is part of our commitment to provide a safe and reliable railway. It's important we improve track quality in the Slough area and avoid the need for severe line speed restrictions over several miles."

The engineering project will cost around £8.5 million.

Revellers travelling to this weekend's Reading Festival have been advised the station will remain open throughout the work with a further service available from Reading to London Waterloo with up to four trains an hour running on Bank Holiday Monday.

But services on the line are likely to be twice as busy as usual with the Wales vs England rugby international in Cardiff, which is also being held on Saturday.

Edith Rodgers, First Great Western's interim customer services director, said: "This Network Rail engineering project is the most significant weekday work in recent years. The extended line closure allows Network Rail to carry out the track improvements more effectively so we don't face piecemeal line closures over a much longer period."

Yesterday, on the first day of the works, customers did not find the disruption too horrendous. IT contractor Ian Mather, of Swindon, said: "I think 50 per cent of the trains are running. It took 15 minutes longer each way but I'd checked the timetable on the website so I knew what to expect."

Services were affected over the Easter holiday in April this year when signalling work meant that trains to London terminated at Ealing Broadway instead of Paddington.

And a year after Chris Kinchin-Smith became managing director of Swindon-based First Great Western and pledged to make train services more reliable, services are still not as punctual and reliable as elsewhere, according to the Strategic Rail Authority.

While this week's engineering works are not his fault they will only add to the misery already felt by a large section of the paying public. Between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2003, 71.9 per cent of First Great Western trains arrived on time, but that figure remains seven per cent lower that the national average of 79.2 per cent. And that is a minuscule improvement on the previous year's performance of 71.6 per cent.

For more information on rail travel this week call National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950 or visit www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk