SOME Great Western Railway services will be affected by rail improvement work in the South Gloucestershire area.

Network Rail will carry out tunnel drainage alongside work to lift the track level which will affect train services from Monday, July 7 to Sunday, July,13 and Sunday July 20.

Track renewal work is also planned in the Patchway area and could affect train services between Bristol and South Wales until around midday on Sunday, July 20.

Marcus Deegan, Station Manager for Bristol Parkway, said: "This work forms part of an ongoing programme of investment, helping to ensure we can continue to provide consistent and reliable services.

"To maintain rail connections to and from South Wales, some of our trains will use a different route from normal, making journeys longer.

"Unfortunately, this also means the frequency of services between London and South Wales also has to be cut from half-hourly to hourly. However, we will provide some additional train services between London Paddington and Swindon Monday to Friday at peak periods.

"It’s important customers are aware the arrangements in place will extend their journey times, so please plan ahead."

George Barratt, Network Rail project manager said: "This is our latest piece of work to reduce the impact of flooding on the railway and surrounding area. We're sorry for temporarily closing the line but it's essential to complete our work as efficiently and safely as possible."

From Monday, July 7 to Sunday, July 13, trains will run hourly between London and South Wales using an alternative route via Bath. This will extend journey times by around 30 minutes.

Some additional train services are planned to operate between London Paddington and Swindon at peak periods Monday to Friday.

On Sunday, July 20, trains will run hourly between London and South Wales using an alternative route via Gloucester until after 3pm, extending journey times by around an hour.

These services won’t stop at Bristol Parkway due to separate engineering work taking place in the Patchway area. After 3pm, these trains will run via Bath instead of Gloucester, extending journey times by around 30 minutes.

Customers travelling between Bristol and South Wales can change at Gloucester or Cheltenham Spa, where other train services will still be running to and from South Wales.

For the latest information on planned engineering work, visit GWR.com/Bristol