31.05.12
Date set for Kemble to Swindon redoubling
Redoubling of the Kemble to Swindon line is to begin in October, Network Rail has announced.
The £45m project was given the go-ahead in March 2011 to remove a bottleneck on the Cheltenham to London route. Doubling will take place on 12.5 miles of single track.
The section was singled in the late 1960s as a cost-saving measure by British Rail.
A 23-day closure will take place on the line in summer 2013 but the “vast majority” of work would be undertaken at night, Network Rail said. The scheme is expected to be completed by spring 2014.
Chris Irwin, chairman of the public transport passenger watchdog TravelWatch SouthWest, told The Citizen: “We have been waiting over 40 years for the colossal error of reducing the Kemble to Swindon railway line to a single track to be corrected.
“The voice of the long-suffering passengers has finally been heard.”
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