I have received this letter from the Managing Director of Great Western Railway about services over the Christmas period:
Dear John
I wrote to you a few weeks ago to alert you to the closure of Paddington station over Christmas this year to allow for electrification and Crossrail works.
This is just a quick follow up to remind you that the six-day closure starts on Christmas Eve, Saturday December 24th through to Thursday 29 December. This will mean trains are very busy on Friday 23 December, and we are recommending customers book ahead and travel early if they can.
Trains will not call at Burnham, Taplow, Hanwell, Acton Main Line, West Ealing, the Marlow Branch line and the Greenford branch line from Christmas Eve until 3 January. During this period customers will be able to use scheduled bus services, or buses provided by GWR on the Marlow Branch line and from Slough to Burnham or Taplow.
Full details are on our website on a dedicated page https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/christmas-travel including details on travelling with bikes, our sleeper service and our Pullman dining service.
We are using every avenue we can to alert customers including posters, leaflets and announcements on trains and at stations, social and traditional media and Meet the Manager events at key stations, anything you can do to help us spread the message would be very helpful.
If you have any questions about the improvement work, or our plans during the closure, please contact me and we will do our best to help.
Best wishes
Mark Hopwood | Managing Director | Great Western Railway