FAST train services stopping at Slough and Maidenhead stations were cancelled this week after record temperatures hit the railway lines.

Great Western Railway (GWR) diverted 11 services past the stations on Monday and Tuesday between 12 and 5.30pm following safety concerns.

They were all fast services to London Paddington.

GWR says it is continuing to make regular temperature checks of the lines during the week so it can keep customers up to date. However normal services were resumed yesterday (Wednesday) and there is no indication so far today (Thursday) that services need to avoid Slough and Maidenhead. If the track temperature exceeds 50 degrees celsius, services can be asked to skip the stations.

GWR said that because trains have to cross over from a main line to a suburban line to get to Slough and Maidenhead, this posed a risk at high speed in the hotter weather.

Therefore while normal speed services to and from London continued as normal on Monday and Tuesday, the high speed services had to bypass the stations. 

A GWR spokesperson said: “Passengers at Slough could catch both the normal services (in either direction) or travel to Reading for a high speed service into London.”

GWR said it had taken advice from the railway lines operator, Network Rail, and had avoided a blanket speed restriction which had last happened in 2011 during similarly hot weather.

While the cross over between different lines at high speed can damage railway tracks, it would not cause a derailment. However Network Rail said any damage would potentially lead to more disruption with the need for further maintenance.

A spokesperson said: “We apologise to passengers affected by service alterations caused by extreme rail temperatures.

“In these conditions, fast moving trains can cause significant damage to the track in certain areas, which would stop all trains from running.”