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British train operator First Great Western (FGW) and Network Rail are planning to restore the majority of services into and out of London Paddington starting 17 February.

The services were closed as the signalling equipment at Maidenhead was damaged due to recent floods resulting in 20% reduction of services.

Engineering and maintenance teams of Network Rail are working to solve the problems at Maidenhead.

FGW is planning to operate a normal service on high-speed routes into and out of London, but the route between Bridgwater and Taunton and at Dawlish will remain closed.

"Our signalling equipment is under several feet of floodwater."

Network Rail route managing director Patrick Hallgate said: "Our signalling equipment is under several feet of floodwater but with some innovative thinking a temporary system has been put in place that should see us through the next few weeks until the water recedes.

"We continue to work on further fixes that may further improve capacity through this section next week."

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Network Rail chairman Richard Parry-Jones said: "We have clear priorities; safely restoring services to normal, making our network more resilient and wisely spending and investing our £38bn funding package to make Britain’s railways better."


Image: Majority of services to be restored from London Paddington from 17 February. Photo: First Great Western.

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