From Good Friday 6 April 2007 until the early hours of Monday 16 April, Network Rail will be carrying out extensive engineering work between Reading, Basingstoke and Winchester in a £130 million signalling renewal programme. The project will completely overhaul the signalling infrastructure along a 60-mile section of track in the area and will result in a better, more reliable train service for the future.

During this time Virgin CrossCountry will run one train every two hours to and from Bournemouth and Southampton, and diversion of these via Guildford will add around 90 minutes to journey times. Train formations will be doubled so far as possible, and more frequent services will be provided between Birmingham and Reading.

South West Trains will be running replacement coach services for use by all rail passengers travelling between Reading and stations to Basingstoke and Winchester.

The full range of Virgin Value Advance tickets, which include complimentary seat reservations, will be on sale subject to availability, and customers are strongly advised to reserve seats where possible. Some services at weekends may not yet be open for reservations because some long distance services may be affected by engineering work elsewhere on the network.

Detailed train information is now available at stations and effects of the engineering work on specific journeys may be checked at www.virgin.com/trains. Customers are advised to check travel details in advance by phoning National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or visiting nationalrail.co.uk