No, I haven't lost the plot! Image not available to guests
Rather, I'm sharing member ChrisB's view that this sort of problem won't suddenly go away on New Year's Eve:
I'm merely preparing the ground here, ready for member TaplowGreen to develop this topic, in due course.
CfN. Image not available to guests

TaplowGreen, the Coffee Shop forum is prepared for you. Image not available to guests

That's a presuming that there will be infrastructure problems in the Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere in 2026 ....................  Image not available to guests  I am a born optimist  Image not available to guests

Didn't take long, did it?

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 12:00 06/01.

Damage has been found to the OLE in the Ladbroke Grove area. Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) is the name given to the overhead wires and other equipment on electrified railway lines that provides power to the trains.
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What are we doing about it?
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Whilst engineers are fixing the damage, our train service will have to be reduced between London Paddington and Reading.
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The problem affects all of the four lines between London Paddington and Reading, so we are having to reduce the train service through the area to avoid congestion. Local stopping services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway/Newbury will only run between Reading and Didcot Parkway/Newbury. Most of our longer distance Intercity services will continue to run between London Paddington and Reading, but may be subject to delay and some services between London Paddington and Cardiff Central will not run.

"Disruption is expected until the end of the day"

Dear Graham,

We're getting in touch to advise about current disruption in West London impacting GWR services operating between London Paddington and Reading, as well as Elizabeth Line services.  This is due to an issue with overhead wires in the Ladbroke Grove area. Network Rail teams are working quickly to repair the overhead wires and as a result, services are likely to be impacted until the end of the day.

Local stopping services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway/Newbury will only run between Reading and Didcot Parkway/Newbury. Most of our longer distance Intercity services will continue to run between London Paddington and Reading, but may be subject to delay and some services between London Paddington and Cardiff Central will be cancelled.

For the very latest please visit our dedicated webpage at www.gwr.com/check. Delay Repay compensation is available for customers using GWR services who arrive at their destination 15 minutes or more later than scheduled, and can be claimed at www.gwr.com/delayrepay. 

We're very sorry for the disruption to passenger services today and would be grateful if you could share this information with your networks.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best wishes,

Olivia & Ahmed

One of my New Year's Day pictures showed diesel fumes - or was it steam - coming out of the pipes on an IET at Chippenham - no doubt just warming up has it come electric as far as Cocklebury Lane, and I mused sadly that it wasn't electric through to Bath, Bristol and beyond.   Seeing the problems that NR / GWR seem to have with the extra complexity of OLE, I wonder if I should be careful what I wish for.

The newer sections of OHLE are generally very robust.  Problems nearly always occur in the legacy OHLE from the 1990s from Paddington out as far as Heathrow.  Though that fragile area is the most important unfortunately!

You're only as strong as your weakest point.

What's the nature of today's problem?

TfL drivers this evening are telling passengers that the OLE won’t be fixed tonight and not to bother travelling tomorrow.