Following the announcement of the five day Christmas travel period, we thought it would be helpful to let you know about our Christmas and New Year services.

Services will run normally on 23 December. On Christmas Eve late afternoon and evening services will be amended to prepare for our usual closure on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

On Christmas Day Network Rail Western will start work on two major improvement projects for the West of England.  They will install a new signal gantry at Bristol East in preparation for the replacement and remodelling of Bristol East junction. This is critical for the introduction of MetroWest services.  Replacing the old junction will also improve performance reducing delays and minimising the length of disruptions.  This is a very major piece of engineering and work will continue through the year, with the full replacement and remodelling of the junction over the summer.

In addition, work will start on Christmas Day on the restoration of Bristol Temple Meads station roof and rewiring. Scaffolding will be installed which will close platforms 3 to 6.  As well as restoring the roof, including the architectural stonework, the station improvement work will include a new eastern entrance.  The restoration is due to be completed by early 2023.  There are more details on our website on https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/bristol

The impact of the work on rail services is limited. There will however be buses on some local routes on Sunday 27 December. Trains continue to run on other routes, but will operate to an amended timetable.   Amended timetables will then operate on all routes via Bristol Temple Meads from Monday 28 December to Sunday 10 January.

We are reminding customer to check their journeys before travel on www.gwr.com and we are asking that tickets are booked in advance.   We have a dedicated webpage with information to help customers travel with confidence on For  https://www.gwr.com/safety

We will be very happy to help with any questions about the Christmas work or the plans for the station or the junction, and please do feel free to share the details of the Christmas work with others.  We want to do all we can to help those who are travelling this year to do so safely and comfortably.