Railway engineering work over Christmas will cause 10 days of disruption

Passengers travelling on some of Great Britain’s busiest railway lines at Christmas have been warned of significant disruption from 10 days of engineering works.

Work will close London’s Paddington station – affecting intercity trains to the west of England and Wales until January – as well as Birmingham New Street, the UK’s busiest station outside the capital, for five days over the holiday period.

Passengers travelling between London, north-east England and Scotland will have to negotiate the part closure of the east coast mainline on Christmas Eve. Direct trains from the capital to parts of Essex and Norfolk will also be cut for much of the festive period.

Network Rail said most routes would still stay open and that the Christmas period, when train services generally stop for 25 and 26 December, remained the best time to conduct essential works.

Engineers hope to use the quieter festive days to carry out about £152m of works to improve reliability and capacity.

The biggest engineering work is expected on the lines leading into London Paddington, including replacing a junction near Slough. Most Great Western services to Wales and the west of England will start and finish at Reading, with some services diverting around Oxford to London Euston, from 27 December until 4 January.

The work also means Elizabeth line services west of Paddington and Heathrow Express services will not resume after Christmas until 31 January.

Birmingham’s main station, New Street, will be closed from the start of Christmas Eve until 29 December to replace overhead power supplies. No trains will stop or pass through, with rail replacement buses serving the city centre.

Passengers using east coast mainline services run by LNER and other operators may wish to avoid travel on Christmas Eve. Work at Doncaster means trains between London, north-east England and Scotland will be partly replaced by rail replacement buses from Newark to York, adding two hours to journeys.

The Great Eastern mainline out of London Liverpool Street will be closed for 10 days from Christmas Day for track replacement in east London, meaning no Greater Anglia or Elizabeth line rains will run through the area, with no direct trains from Norwich to London.

TransPennine services between Leeds and Manchester will be slowed for six weeks from Christmas Day with the closure of Huddersfield station.

Network Rail’s group director, system operator, Anit Chandarana, said: “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. 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. 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.”