Network Rail and Transport for Wales (TfW) will provide extra rail replacement buses for passengers travelling to and from the Abergavenny food festival on the weekend of 21 and 22 September.

The event is one of Wales’ premier food festivals, with around 25,000 people expected to attend.

However, it faced a serious problem as key train services to Abergavenny were not running for the weekend.

The main railway line through the town links Shrewsbury and Newport, and will be closed to allow Network Rail engineers to carry out essential work on track safety and installing the new accessible footbridge at Abergavenny station.

Network Rail and TfW officials have met with the festival’s organisers to draw up a plan for extra rail replacement buses.

In addition, a shuttle bus will run between the station and Abergavenny bus station, close to the festival, on both days.

The buses will run from the front of Abergavenny station to Hereford, with the last leaving at 23:10, and to Newport, with the last leaving at 00:54 on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

On the Sunday night into Monday morning, the last bus to Hereford will leave at 00:34 and the last bus to Newport at 00:50.

Some of the replacement buses will call at all stations, and others will call only at Newport, Hereford and Shrewsbury.

Throughout the day, standby buses will be available at key locations.

“We recognise that closing the railway will be inconvenient for those who want and need to use it. We only close the railway reluctantly, but necessarily, when we have to maintain or upgrade the railway system.

Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director

“We know how important the food festival is to Abergavenny and the local economy. While it wasn’t possible to change the dates of the railway work, we have worked with Network Rail and the festival organisers to put on a comprehensive bus operation to get people to and from the festival with as little disruption as possible. We will also have extra customer support presence at key stations along the route to help customers get the right information.

Jan Chaudhry van der Velde, Transport for Wales chief operations officer

“We always encourage people to use public transport where possible. It’s good to know that well-planned alternative provision is in place, including additional shuttle services.

Lucie Parkin, Festival Director