Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire, England

  The line between Swindon and Kemble formed part of the original Great Western Railway route from Paddington to South Wales and was, of course, laid to Brunel's broad gauge. That being so lineside structures were all spaced sufficiently far apart to allow for the two broad gauge tracks, for example station platforms, and bridges. Once the broad gauge had been abolished the structures remained, obviously, at that wide spacing. And so did the tracks, even when laid at only standard gauge; it was a hallmark of the Great Western system. This wide spacing can be seen today at many places, for example at Kemble station. It would be a nice concession to history were the shortly-to-be-relaid second track between Swindon and this station to be placed at the former wide spacing; obviously the formation is wide enough.
  
  Or is that too much at variance with the railway's modern image? Can we no longer afford history?

• John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire, England

  Thank goodness the line bwteeen Swindon and Kemble is to be redoubled. Double track will be needed during electrification work on the GWML and it would have been crazy not to make this improvement now. Common sense has prevailed!
  The Ordsall Curve likewise is common sense and will bring a totally new dimension to train running in Manchester - will it be electrified one wonders, though not strictly necessary for the present I suppose?
  HOWEVER, though on a (very) slightly different topic....we do really need approval NOW for those Voyagers/Meridians to be converted into bi-mode sets by the addition of a pantograph car. This would, at a stroke, eliminate a vast amount of diesel running "under the wires!"

• jack99, swindon, UK

  I remember standing at Purton Station ( rebuilt 1962 ) closed 1964 and remember the Swindon - Gloucester line as double track. Ironically it is First Great Westerns lousy poor timekeeping performance that kickstarted the campaign for the line between Swindon to Kemble to be doubled. BR managed to run this line properly ( and that was when there was alot more freight traffic using this route. )
  
  Still Swindon - Gloucester - Newport is the South Wales diversionary route so with forthcoming electrification , increased passenger and freight traffic , capacity for stations at Swindon North and elsewhere on the line it is a win win situation.
  Could Kemble - Cirencester or Swindon - Cricklade - Cirencester be reinstated as well ?
  
  Now can Royal Wootton Bassett get its station back and how about 4 tracking the Great Western Main Line from Royal Wootton Bassett Junction to Didcot ?
  Then there would be room for Swindon Parkway stations at the M4 and A419 which would relieve traffic in Swindon and provide revenue for the proposed Swindon - Salisbury service. and Birmingham - Oxford - Swindon - Weymouth trains.
  

• Mick, Cardiff, Wales

  Redoubling the line between Swindon and Kemble would surely have to be a precursor to electrifcation between Swindon and the Severn Tunnel in any case in order to provide a viable diversionary route whenever the GWML (and particularly the tunnel) is closed by engineer's possessions..