IS the planned five-month closure of the Swindon Road bridge during the Network Rail electrification process worth it?

The objective answer, bearing in mind the greater good, is that the closure and its attendant disruption are entirely justified.

Electrifying the Great Western Main Line is a modernisation project that should have been tackled many years ago.

Apart from the massive environmental benefits, it will improve the reliability of services.

This will in turn reduce the amount of workplace productivity lost among commuters who suffer delays, and will also make taking a train more attractive to people who currently prefer their cars.

Five months of road disruption is an acceptable price to pay for these benefits, but the fact will be no comfort to some of the members of the public whose mobility issues mean the diversions will be a gross inconvenience.

For them, having to walk further than usual to catch a bus will be a major undertaking.

We can only hope the revised bus routes will be revised further if many people prove to be affected in this way, or at least that some method can be found to keep them connected to the bus network. Alternative transport, involving other agencies if necessary, should not be ruled out.

Another hope is that once electrification is complete, the cost of the project is not extracted from the public purse in the form of even more outrageous ticket prices.