Great Western Railway (GWR) has suspended train services between Chippenham and Westbury this morning due to the weather.

Melksham will not be served by rail services for the duration of the day, the train operator has said.

A spokesman for GWR said: "Due to anticipated heavy snowfall; the decision has been taken to suspend services between Chippenham and Westbury (via Melksham) in both directions for the whole of today.

"The suspension allows Network Rail to protect critical signalling assets to enable the main Westbury to Bath and Chippenham to Bath lines to run.

"Replacement Buses have been sourced to run."

The services will depart every two hours from Westbury at ten minutes past the hour until 6.10pm, calling at the following stations:

Westbury 10:10

Trowbridge 10:25

Melksham 10:40

Chippenham 11:05

Melksham 11:25

Trowbridge 11:40

Westbury 11:55

GWR said that customers may use their tickets to travel via Bath Spa if they so wish.

The closure comes amid engineering work affecting the Great Western Main Line through Swindon.

On both Saturday and Sunday trains between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads/South Wales will be diverted and not call at Didcot Parkway, Swindon and Chippenham or Bristol Parkway. Replacement buses will serve these stations.

GWR said some services may be terminated earlier in their journey, while some services will not run at all.

Trains between London Paddington/Swindon and Cheltenham Spa will also not be running over the course of the weekend. Replacement buses will run between Swindon and Gloucester. Passengers travelling north from Swindon should change at Gloucester for an onwards rail connection to Cheltenham Spa

On Saturday most trains between Swindon and Westbury will run between Chippenham and Westbury only. Replacement buses will run between Swindon and Chippenham, while some services may be cancelled.

GWR has advised all passengers to visit www.gwr.com or call National Rail Enquiries on 03457 484950.