Call to arms for double-track (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

How long would the railway line have to be shut whilst the double-track is laid ?

The whole line has been slewed to straighten the curves and the ballasting as narrowed the effective width of the embankments so it is a ridiculously complicated operation, probably taking months, when they could have just taken up one track and left the other.
The big win would be if a station at west swindon could be put in on this line and the increased capacity would allow this, but with so little capacity east of swindon It all sounds like a waste of time, Relay the Kingham line and send the Cheltenham trains via Oxford that was the fastest route to Cheltenham in steam days Flyer excepted, and that would cause minimum disruption to rail, and a lot to folk with houses built on it, but they knew it was there when they built so dont expect sympathy from me.

Whilst I'm no engineer won't this mean the whole line will need to close for 6 months whilst the 12 miles of single track is lifted and a new double-track laid ?

Crispin Mount, they won't be closing the track for six months, if at all. The first four miles or so of track NW of Swindon is the original down (westbound)line. All that has to be done for that section is to relay the up (eastbound) track. What BR did with the other 8 miles or so to Kemble is remove the up track, move the ballast to the centre and put the down track on that ballast. If you remember the summer of 1968, it was done in such a way as to cause very little disturbance. And the same with putting it back. Network Rail classifies this job as straightforward and uncomplicated. You can tell that from the price tag alone. When 10 miles of second track had to be relayed north of Bicester on the Chiltern Line, N.R.'s bill was over £60million. With the 12 miles of Swindon/Kemble, it is estimated at only £32million on N.R.'s website (2007 Business Plan). That means that N.R. plans to do it fast, and doesn't foresee any complications. No embankments to be rebuilt, no bridges to be built, no tunnels to be built. A straightforward job that can be done quickly and without inconvenience to commuters on the line.

As far as Union Man's comments that trains to Cheltenham can take the Oxford route, that's only possible if they go into Worcester and reverse out; that would add at least an hour to the trip over the Kemble route. On the other hand, a train can get to Worcester from London in only about an extra half hour via Kemble as compared to Oxford. The £51million to be spent on Oxford/Worcester will only cover about 1/3 of the cost of redoubling that whole line. Parts of that line have been single track from the beginning; it never was all double-track, unlike Swindon/Cheltenham. The £51million will mean a bit of improvement on that line, but the improvement on the Kemble line will be much larger in comparison. And that is without considering that the Kemble route is the only backup for all of the S Wales traffic when the Severn Tunnel is closed (which is quite often).

I use the Stroud Valley line often and can't wait for the work to be done. Any frequent commuter on that line should be looking forward to the improvements to come.

I also use the line frequently...so if I'm to support the proposal I want to know the nature of the disruption to me as a commuter, as I don't relish that bus to Swindon for an 'unspecified period'. If the line has to be shut for more than a few weeks you can count me out.

Crispin,
Look at it the other way. If you have a single track and you get a problem with that track, you'll be taking the bus in any case. I've had to take the bus many times over the years. Every time they do repair on the single track, the line closes. With a single track, you are never going to get as many trains through as with two tracks, so the service you'll get as a commuter will never compare to two tracks. A third of the 12 miles (starting at Swindon) they can put back by just running their track-laying equipment in tandem with the other track, since the down track wasn't moved. When N.R. did the redoubling for 10 miles north of Bicester a few years ago, there was hardly any change to the Chiltern Line schedule. The benefits so outweigh any short-term pain on this. I'm sure that Network Rail in Swindon could give you more details on just what closures there might be. They are at 1 Gloucester St. in Swindon.