Christmas rail overhaul: ten days of travel chaos

People hoping to reach family and friends this Christmas face ten days of disruption on some of Great Britain’s busiest railway lines, with stations closing and trains replaced by buses at the height of the festive travel period.

The changes will alter travel between London and the west of England and Wales. London Paddington will close, affecting intercity services until January, and most Great Western services to Wales and the west will start and finish at Reading instead. Some trains will divert around Oxford to London Euston between 27 December and 4 January. The largest single piece of engineering work is expected on the lines leading into Paddington, including the replacement of a junction near Slough. The disruption reaches further than the mainline itself: Elizabeth line services west of Paddington and Heathrow Express services will not resume until 31 January.

Additional reference context is available at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/oct/31/railway-engineering-work-christmas-disruption-london-birmingham.

Birmingham New Street, the busiest station outside the capital, will close from the start of Christmas Eve until 29 December so overhead power supplies can be replaced. No trains will stop at or pass through the station during that period. Rail replacement buses will serve the city centre instead.

Meanwhile, travel north and east will also be affected. Passengers on the east coast mainline, used by LNER and other operators, are being advised to avoid travelling on Christmas Eve, when part of the line will be closed. Work at Doncaster means trains between London, north-east England and Scotland will be partly replaced by buses from Newark to York, adding two hours to journeys. The Great Eastern mainline out of London Liverpool Street will shut for ten days from Christmas Day for track replacement in east London, meaning no Greater Anglia or Elizabeth line trains will run through the area and there will be no direct trains from Norwich to London. TransPennine services between Leeds and Manchester will be slowed for six weeks from Christmas Day because of the closure of Huddersfield station. Direct trains from London to parts of Essex and Norfolk will also be cut for much of the festive period.

Network Rail, the operator responsible for the works, said most routes would remain open and defended the timing. The Christmas period, when services generally stop on 25 and 26 December, remains the best time to carry out essential work, the company said, and engineers hope to use the quieter festive days to complete about £152m of improvements to reliability and capacity.

Anit Chandarana, Network Rail’s group director, system operator, acknowledged the impact on passengers. “Christmas is a time when many people want to be with family and friends, and most of the railway will be open to help them get there,” he said. “We have worked with train operators to keep services running wherever we can on the busiest travel days and to provide alternative journey options where work affects the usual route.”

“We are sorry that some passengers will face disruption,” he added. “The days between Christmas and new year are by far the quietest of the year and give us the best opportunity to complete major projects such as the power supply upgrades at Birmingham and Paddington. Our teams will do everything they can to keep people moving, and we urge passengers to check their journeys before setting off.”

For travellers, the practical message is to plan ahead, and passengers are encouraged to check their specific routes before setting out, particularly on Christmas Eve and in the days immediately after Christmas, when the closures will be at their most disruptive. Whether the replacement buses and diverted routes can absorb the festive rush remains the open question for everyone heading home this season.