The company has drafted in signal workers from across the country until the strike is due to officially end on Saturday.
Some major sections of the rail network including the area around Newport will be shut down over the Christmas and new year period because of engineering work, Network Rail (NR) has said.
There will be 28 separate pieces of engineering work on Sunday December 27 while there will be 21 on December 28, then 16 on December 29 and 15 on December 30.
But NR said that 8,000 more trains will run over the festive period than in the Christmas/new year 2008/09 period and that there will be 33% fewer replacement buses.
Rail customer watchdog Passenger Focus welcomed the promise of less disruption this Christmas but said it was "regrettable" that the work affecting travel to and from South Wales was taking place over the festive period.
The Network Rail press release states "Bristol to Newport - 27/12 to 03/01 - the first phase of the £150m Newport area improvement scheme, which will deliver more reliable services for passengers throughout the region, will be completed over the Christmas break. The job entails modernising signal equipment, extensive rebuilding of tracks around Severn Tunnel Junction station and the building of a new platform. Preparatory work for the redevelopment of Newport Station ready for the Ryder Cup is also taking place. As a result the rail route into South Wales from Bristol and Gloucester will be closed over the Christmas / New Year period although four other routes into Wales from England remain open".
Rail passengers in Newport and Cardiff were delayed following a robbery in the Rumney area of Cardiff this morning. Two men were killed when a quad bike were hit by a train fleeing the scene of a shop burglary. Two hundred men's specialist outdoor jackets worth £40,000 were stolen from Go Outdoors in Newport Road, Cardiff. Police officers were called to the store just after 0400 GMT - around the time the men, both in their 20s, were hit on tracks in Rumney nearby.
British Transport Police said the quad bikes had been travelling east towards Newport when they were struck from behind. The passenger train involved was not carrying members of the public at the time, and had been making its way from the Canton depot in Cardiff to Cheltenham for servicing. The crash led to four rail lines being closed for some hours, disrupting morning commuters. Three have since been reopened but continuing delays are likely. A spokesperson for Network Rail said: "There was some damage to the track in the area of the collision".
A spokesman for South Wales Police said: "The line runs directly behind the store and is normally very quiet at night. It seems somebody came up with the idea of using quad bikes for the raid and to get away. Two people have paid with their lives and two others will have it on their conscience." The store backs onto the railway line which is used by quad bikers as an unofficial race track.
Rail passengers were left stranded for over an hour this evening due to a signalling failure on the South Wales main line.
Trains between Cardiff Central and Newport were stopped after a vital cable was reportedly struck by lightning.
Network Rail said it was made aware of the problem shortly before 4pm and halted engines between the two cities for around an hour.
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