Warning over Christmas train journeys after hundreds of railway works announced
Passengers have been warned over Christmas travel disruption affecting London Euston, Paddington, Elizabeth line and the West Coast main line.
Many of us will hop on a train next month to visit family and friends across the UK.
If you are one of the millions of people planning a holiday getaway, it is worth checking if your journey is affected by engineering works.
It comes after Network Rail, the organisation running Britain’s rail infrastructure, and train operators announced major engineering and improvement works at Christmas and New Year.
There could be up to 400 separate works across the network, according to Daily Star.
Passengers should plan ahead to avoid getting caught out by works, including on the West Coast mainline – the busiest route in the UK.
Here are some of the key projects which could cause disruption.
Rail works at Christmas and New Year
The first works to start are on the Thameslink network which kick off some days before Christmas.
Major engineering works will close several Thameslink lines from Saturday, December 21 until Sunday, December 29.
It affects the routes between London St Pancras and Bedford, Gatwick Airport and Brighton, and between Luton and Gillingham, Kent, among others.
The West Coast mainline will see works between Christmas and New Year which is likely to cause chaos for passengers between London Euston station and Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Those travelling on Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway and Transport for Wales services between Christmas Eve and January 2 will be affected.
Network Rail warned that ‘Euston is expected to be extremely busy.
‘We’re advising passengers to travel before Christmas Eve (Tuesday 24 December 2024) or after Thursday 2 January 2025.’
The London Paddington area will see the latest round of works for the planned Old Oak Common HS2 station while Network Rail will carry out track maintenance.
This will wreak havoc on the Elizabeth line, Great Western Railway (GRW) and Heathrow Express services over the weekend from Friday, December 27 to Sunday, December 29.
The Elizabeth line will not run to and from Paddington at all and there will be no Lizzy line between Stratford and London Liverpool Street either.
GWR will not run trains in or out of Londo Paddington over the weekend, so some journeys might take longer than usual, National Rail said.
Heathrow Express trains will not run to and from Paddington all weekend. A shuttle will operate between the Heathrow terminals from 5.10am until 11.20pm.
Works in the London Liverpool Street area will run from Friday, December 27 until Wednesday, January 1.
Network Rail said that Liverpool Street – UK’s busiest train station – will be closed to all services during this time, including the in-station retail shops as the roof panels are replaced and more ticket gates are installed for platforms 1 to 10.
Elizabeth line services, c2c, London Overground, Greater Anglia and Stansted Express services are affected.
The longest stretch of work will be carried out in the Cambridge area from Friday, December 27 until Sunday, January 5.
Several lines will be closed for major resignalling works, with replacement buses running between stations.
Here are the affected routes.
- CrossCountry between Birmingham New Street and Cambridge and Stansted Airport
- Greater Anglia between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge, Cambridge North and Ely, and between Stansted Airport, Cambridge and Norwich
- Great Northern between London Kings Cross and Cambridge, Ely and Kings Lynn
- Thameslink between Brighton and Cambridge
Network Rail said: ‘Christmas is a quieter time on the railways, and most of the network will be open as normal.
‘But there will be significant changes to journeys on some routes.’
UK rail network
The UK railway infrastructure is run by Network Rail.
It oversees more than 20,000 miles of track, 45,000 bridges and tunnels and 6,500 level crossings.
On top of that, there are also countless power cables and signalling equipment needing regular maintenance and upkeep.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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