SWINDON-based First Great Western will operate a near normal Christmas timetable.

All of its services are expected to run but some journey times will still be extended because of track repairs and speed restrictions.

Full details will be published at the end of this week and will be available at all First Great Western stations.

Many passengers were worried that the company would not be able to get its services back on track for Christmas because of problems caused by engineering work since the Hatfield derailment and recent flooding.

It was forced to bring in an emergency timetable after the storms which caused severe disruption.

Trains that were running were hampered by a 20mph speed limit to the west of Swindon station and at Pewsey, and just as services were returning to normal last month, two trains collided near a road bridge in Bristol.

But last week the flooded Sapperton Tunnel was re-opened, restoring services between Swindon and Gloucester.

"It has been an extremely difficult few months for all of our customers and I continue to work with Railtrack to ensure any future difficulties are kept to a minimum," said First Great Western managing director, Mike Carroll.

Between December 18 and Christmas Eve, every service to the West of England from London Paddington is expected to operate, although journey times are likely to take longer.

Services between London Paddington and Bristol, and London Paddington and South Wales may be amended slightly to accommodate more leisure and fewer business customers, but First Great Western says this is normal over the festive season.

On December 23 and 24, it expects to have a near normal service with extended journey times arising from Railtrack's on-going speed restrictions.

Passengers can expect 10 minutes extra on the Bristol route, 25 minutes extra on south Wales journeys, 20 minutes to west of England destinations and up to one hour on journeys from the west of England to London.

Customers are urged to reserve their seats using First Great Western's free service on 08457 000 125 and check journey arrangements before they travel by contacting the National Rail Enquiry Service on 08457 48 49 50