COMMUTERS and travellers across Gwent face six weeks of disruption with the Severn Tunnel closed for electrification work from today.

The 130-year-old tunnel between Caldicot and Pilning, north of Bristol, will be closed while an army of 200 Network Rail engineers work 24 hours a day to install electrical equipment along the entire eight-mile stretch.

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As a result, people who take trains through the tunnel on a daily basis will be forced to take a replacement bus, adding about 45 minutes to journey times, drive over one of the two Severn Bridges, or find alternative arrangements. Trains to London will also take around 35 minutes longer than usual.

Emma Williams from Beechwood works at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s offices in Bristol’s Trinity Quay, and usually gets the train to and from work. For the next six weeks she is having to carpool with four colleagues though.

“Two of the other people I’m sharing with live in Newport so we’ll meet at Spytty and go from there,” she said. “The other lives in Caldicot so we’ll have to pick him up and go over the old bridge.”

“By the end of it we might all hate each other, or we might be best friends," she added.

“Someone suggested we should do carpool karaoke, but it’s a bit early in the morning for that.”

Mrs Williams also said that while there are a number of carpool parking spaces at her office, if they are already taken by the time she and her colleagues get there they will face having to pay £12 a day for parking.

“We will have to what a see because we don’t know what the traffic is going to be like,” she said.

“Obviously the traffic is usually bad going into Bristol so it could be even worse while this is going on.”

Thankfully Mrs Williams, aged 46, and her colleagues have been able to arrange to change their working hours to from 7.30am until 3.30pm, meaning they will be able to get a head-start on the evening traffic.

“I understand why they are doing it and I understand it’s short term pain for long term gain, but I am hoping it doesn’t over run,” she said.

“A lot of the focus has been on the people in London – but all they’ve got is an extra 30 minutes on the train. For the people going to Bristol, and there are a lot of us, it’s going to be far more disruptive.”

Speaking after a visit to Sudbrook Pumping Station last week, Newport East MP Jessica Morden called on her constituents to let her know about their experiences during the closure, which she would feed back to Network rail and operator Great Western Railways.

“It’s important that replacement services minimise disruption to commuters whilst this vital work is carried out,” she said.

Meanwhile, airline Flybe has launched a special range of flights from Cardiff Airport to London City Airport running three times a day during the six-week period.

Route managing director for Network Rail’s Welsh division Andy Thomas said the work would result in “faster, greener, more frequent trains” and would boost south Wales’ economy.