Constant issues between Paddington and Reading?

[londonmidland]

What seems like a daily occurrence from as far back as I can remember, there seem to be constant reliability issues between London Paddington and Reading.

Whether it be an infrastructure issue or a train fault, this is something which regularly occurs on this section of the GWML.

Why is it so bad and why do things go wrong on such a regular occurrence on this part of the line? Could it be to do with the infrastructure not being upgraded adequately to cope with the increase amount of train movements?

Today is the perfect example of how things can quickly go wrong -

Via GWR’s Twitter/X page:

09:52:

⚠ Travel Update - 27/03 ⚠

Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Reading, some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading.

Disruption is expected until 11:30.

11:42:

✅ Travel Update - 27/03 ✅

Following a safety inspection on a train earlier today between London Paddington and Reading, all lines are now open.

Train services running to and from these stations are returning to normal.

Disruption is expected until 12:00.

12:42:

⚠️ Travel update - 27/03 ⚠️

Due to the electricity being switched off for safety reasons between Reading and London Paddington, some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 14:00.

 

[mtmikethom]

Was still going early evening, a unit was stuck from early afternoon till at least 1900 on the down relief line at Ealing Bdy which only had about a half hourly down peak service with Elizabeth line running non stop Paddington to Heathrow. The Paddington bound service wasn’t to bad though, Problems yesterday as well but unsure what

 

[JJmoogle]

Why is it so bad and why do things go wrong on such a regular occurrence on this part of the line? Could it be to do with the infrastructure not being upgraded adequately to cope with the increase amount of train movements?

It's been mentioned in other threads elsewhere but yes, the stock using the line is now all heavier and longer with services being more intensive.
(I recall seeing a statistic recently that the total weight on that section over a year has gone up 40% compared to 2018 or so)


The Electric knitting between Airport Junction and Paddington is certainly not as robust as the other Great Western wiring for the rest of the line too, a lot of it is Headspan, so when it fails it takes out all the lines power, and it was never intended to see (nearly) all services using it.

 

[Mag_seven]

The issues surrounding infrastructure reliability on the Paddington to Reading route are well known about and are being discussed here:

Reading - Paddington route set for overhaul - BBC report

from Paul Clifton: Network Rail has announced a recovery plan for the Reading-London Paddington route after months of poor performance. It made national headlines when broken wires left 4,000 passengers stranded on trains for four hours at night, near Ladbroke Grove, on 7 December. Most...

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