Railway staff on the Reading renewals project have come in for high praise from Passenger Focus.
In a report PF singles out the engineering works in Reading over Christmas 2010 and the associated passenger communication as best practice. It’s all down to the teams from First Great Western and Network Rail working together, says FGW managing director, Mark Hopwood.
‘The level of service we provided our customers during the improvement works in the Reading area would never have been possible without the hard work and determination of all our teams. It’s great to see their efforts recognised in this way. I’d also like to thank all our customers once again for their understanding over the festive period,’ says Mark.
Over the Christmas period Network Rail completed the resignalling of 100 miles of railway through Reading, and installed a 1,000 tonne rail bridge over Caversham Road to the west of the station. Upgrades to the rail network saw trains from Bristol and South Wales diverted via Oxford during the engineering works, and trains from the South West ran into London Waterloo instead of Paddington.
A joint communications campaign between Network Rail, First Great Western, CrossCountry and South West Trains saw over 100,000 leaflets distributed, posters or billboards at 300 stations, search and banner advertising online and coverage in papers along the length of the route.
Says Network Rail Project director Bill Henry, ‘Close partnerships with train operators including First Great Western were key to our success over Christmas. The Reading job was a huge engineering challenge, but just as important for all of us was minimising the impact of our work on passengers.
‘Before Christmas, we made big upgrades to the railway so that trains could be diverted around Reading, reducing the need for replacement buses. We also worked with train operators to run the largest joint communications campaign we’ve ever delivered to support engineering works, making sure people knew the facts before they planned their journeys.
‘This Christmas was the launch pad for a five year programme of upgrade work that will transform Reading’s railway. We’ll continue to work with train operators to plan our work efficiently, keeping the railway running and getting passengers where they need to go.’
