No trains between Reading and Didcot Parkway all day Wednesday after a gas main was damaged at Ladygrove. Reading to Paddington runs; tickets valid Thursday.

No trains are running between Reading and Didcot Parkway for the whole of Wednesday 23 September. Great Western Railway is telling passengers not to travel on any route between the two stations, and National Rail says major disruption is expected until at least the end of the day.

The cause is not on the railway. A gas main was damaged in the Ladygrove area of Didcot, about 16 miles north west of Reading, and the safety exclusion zone around it takes in the line.

The incident was reported at 17:59 on Tuesday 22 September, according to National Rail’s disruption record, which was last updated at 10:23 on Wednesday morning.

What the gas company says

SGN, which runs the gas network across southern England, posted its own update at 12.15am on Wednesday:

We are responding to an incident in the Ladygrove area of Didcot, following damage to our network caused by a third party. For safety reasons, it has been necessary to implement an exclusion zone around the location of the incident.

Its engineers worked through the night. SGN has not put a finish time on the repair, saying only that it is working “as quickly as possible” and alongside Network Rail. The statement is on SGN’s emergency repairs page.

Marcus Jones, route director for Network Rail’s Great Western route, put the railway’s position plainly in the company’s own statement: “While the issue is not on the railway itself, it means trains cannot safely operate through the affected area until the leak has been repaired.”

Timeline of the Didcot gas leak. The incident was reported to the railway at 17:59 on Tuesday 22 September. At 12.15am on Wednesday 23 September SGN said a third party had damaged the main at Ladygrove and an exclusion zone was in place. At 10:23 on Wednesday all lines were still closed with disruption expected until at least the end of the day, and no reopening time had been given. Replacement coaches run two an hour each way at 20 minutes past, from Reading at 06:20 and from Oxford at 07:20.
How the closure unfolded. Sources: National Rail service disruption record; SGN emergency repairs page. Graphic by Reading Daily.

What is still running from Reading

Reading has not been cut off. Everything east of the town is normal, and the services GWR expects to run either side of the blockage are:

  • Reading to London Paddington
  • Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
  • Swindon to Chippenham, Bath and Bristol
  • South Wales to Bristol Temple Meads
  • Worcester and Hereford to Oxford
  • Oxford to Didcot Parkway
  • An hourly service between Bristol Temple Meads and Didcot Parkway
  • An hourly London Paddington to Bath and Bristol service, sent round a diversionary route

What is cancelled

GWR’s own service update lists the routes that either stop short or disappear altogether, in both directions:

  • London Paddington to Oxford, the Worcester stations and Hereford
  • London Paddington to Didcot Parkway stopping services
  • London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa
  • London Paddington to Cardiff Central and Swansea
  • London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads

CrossCountry is running no services at all between Oxford and Reading in either direction. That takes out the direct link from Reading to Birmingham, Manchester and the North East for the day.

Getting to Oxford, Didcot or Swindon today

Rail replacement coaches have been requested rather than confirmed as a full service, and there are only two of them each way:

  • Oxford to Reading: two coaches hourly at 20 minutes past, from 07:20 until 23:20
  • Reading to Oxford: two coaches hourly at 20 minutes past, from 06:20 until 21:20

A limited bus replacement is also running between Swindon, Didcot and Reading. Two coaches an hour will not carry the number of people who normally use this line, which is why the advice is to stay put rather than to turn up and queue.

Rail tickets are being accepted at no extra cost on local buses, including two Reading Buses routes:

  • Sky Blue 16 between Tilehurst (Kentwood Circle), Reading West and Reading Station Road
  • Azure 43 between Pangbourne and Reading
  • Thames Travel X40 between Oxford (Westgate) and Reading (Northern Interchange and Station Road)

For journeys to London, GWR tickets are valid on the Elizabeth line between Reading and Paddington, and on the London Underground between Paddington and Marylebone. For the North and the Midlands, tickets are being accepted on Chiltern Railways from Marylebone, Avanti West Coast from Euston, and South Western Railway from Waterloo towards Salisbury for onward connections to Bath and Bristol.

Tickets, refunds and compensation

  • Tickets bought for travel through Didcot on Wednesday 23 September can be used on Thursday 24 September instead.
  • Anyone who no longer wants to travel can apply for a refund through GWR’s refunds page.
  • If a train is cancelled, GWR says you may take the two services before or the two after your booked one, at no extra cost, even on peak or less flexible tickets.
  • Delay Repay starts at 15 minutes late on GWR. Keep the ticket.
  • CrossCountry seat reservations are not being carried over. Coaches B, H and L are the unreserved ones where they exist.

Why this one hurts

Reading is not an ordinary stop on this line. It is the 33rd busiest station in Great Britain, with 14,324,664 entries and exits in the year to March 2025, and a further 4,057,839 interchanges, people changing trains without leaving the station. Those are the Office of Rail and Road’s estimates of station usage, which are built from ticket sales.

Didcot Parkway, by comparison, records 2,884,000 entries and exits and ranks 190th. The closed section between them is short, but it is the funnel that everything from Oxford, Swindon, Cheltenham, Cardiff and Bristol passes through to reach Reading and London.

The single busiest journey at Reading is the one to London Paddington, 4,438,238 trips a year. That one is unaffected, which is the reason the town is inconvenienced today rather than stranded.

What it means for you

  • If your journey today starts or ends at Reading and goes west or north of Didcot, do not travel. That is the operator’s advice, not ours.
  • If you are commuting to London, go as normal. Reading to Paddington is running, and the Elizabeth line is a second option.
  • If you must reach Oxford, the X40 bus takes rail tickets and runs from the Northern Interchange, next to the station.
  • If you have a ticket for today and can move your trip, use it on Thursday instead. You do not need to change anything.
  • Check before leaving, not before booking. The National Rail disruption page is being updated through the day, and no reopening time has been given.

More on getting in and out of town is on our Reading train times to London page, and the week’s road closures are on our Reading roadworks and travel page.

Sources