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Monday 20 Oct 2025

Christmas engineering work across London and Cambridgeshire will help deliver more benefits for passengers

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

Passengers using rail services across London and Cambridgeshire are being reminded to check before travelling this Christmas for planned engineering work taking place which may affect rail journeys. 

This Christmas, passengers are being encouraged to check their journey plans before travelling as major engineering work will be delivering vital renewals, upgrades and maintenance on the rail network at key locations across London and Cambridgeshire that will impact some rail services. These works include: 

• Continuing to replace the roof and improve the drainage system of the UK's busiest station, London Liverpool Street
• Strengthening work taking place inside the Bishopsgate Tunnel approaches to London Liverpool Street. 
• Major track work at Kensal Green to keep services running reliably. 
• Vital signalling renewal work across the Cambridgeshire area
• Other critical maintenance work to maintain the safety of the railway for all rail users. 

Passengers planning to travel by rail over the festive period should check with NationalRail.co.uk or with their train operator.

Service changes for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (24-26 December)

Train services will finish early on Christmas Eve on some routes. Passengers should check the departure time of their last train on Christmas Eve to avoid missing the last trains. As usual, train services will not operate on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Stansted Express will operate a revised service to/from Tottenham Hale on Boxing Day and London Overground Mildmay line services will also run on Boxing Day between Clapham Junction and Shepherd’s Bush. No rail replacement services will be available on these two days across the network.

London Liverpool Street station engineering work - Thursday 25 December to Thursday 1 January

London Liverpool Street, the UK’s busiest station, will be closed for eight days to allow engineering work to take place to strengthen the Bishopsgate tunnel on the approach to the station. This work includes the installation of steel support girders inside the tunnel, and work to repair existing steelwork to prevent corrosion. 

High above the public concourse area and platforms 1-10, work on the roof renewal programme will also continue to renew the panels to allow more light into the station, improve the drainage system and renew the seals to make the roof resilient to more frequent and intense storms. The station concourse will be closed for the duration of the work and is planned to reopen to train services on Friday 2 January 2026.

Greater Anglia, c2c and London Overground service changes to/from London Liverpool Street from Saturday 27 December to Thursday 1 January.

From Saturday 27 December, Greater Anglia services on the Great Eastern and West Anglia mainlines will run to/from Stratford including Stansted Express services.  

London Overground Weaver line services will operate between Chingford / Enfield Town / Cheshunt and London Fields on these dates. There will be no train service between London Liverpool Street and London Fields from Christmas Eve shutdown until start of service on Friday 2 January 2026.

All c2c trains that usually run to / from London Liverpool Street will be amended to run to / from London Fenchurch Street via West Ham.

Click here for more information from NationalRail.co.uk

Cambridge area engineering work - Thursday 25 December to Sunday 4 January 2026

From Christmas Day, major engineering work is taking place on the railway in the Cambridge area for up to 11 days. This is to deliver the second stage of the signalling renewal programme of the Cambridge area.

The Cambridge Re-signalling project has been installing new equipment across the area to modernise the signalling system. Following the successful delivery of the first stage of this complex work last Christmas, signalling engineers for Alstom will introduce a new control system to operate the signals for the section of railway between Cambridge North and Audley End. A new digital workstation at the Cambridge signalling centre will replace the 40-year-old signalling panel allowing signallers to oversee the operation of the network more efficiently. This work is also vital to allow the new station at Cambridge South to open early in the New Year.

Work will also be taking place at Meldreth Road to upgrade the level crossing with a fully integrated full barrier CCTV system that will help to improve level crossing safety for all road users.

Greater Anglia, Thameslink, Great Northern and CrossCountry service changes for the Cambridge area – Thursday 25 December to Sunday 4 January 2026

As usual, there will be no trains running on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

There will be no rail services between both Royston/Stansted Mountfitchet and Cambridge/Cambridge North from Saturday 27 December to Sunday 4 January 2025. Rail services between Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds are also affected during these dates.  Rail replacement bus services will be in place between affected stations from Friday 27 December.

Click here for more information from NationalRail.co.uk 

Kensal Green track engineering work - Thursday 25 December to Sunday 4 January 2026

From Christmas Day, the Mildmay line will be closed between Gospel Oak and Richmond/Shepherd’s Bush to allow the replacement of several switches and crossings, the moveable sections of rail that allow trains to change tracks. These vital elements of the track can become worn quickly where there are frequent train services and eventually need replacing to keep services running efficiently and safely.

Engineering teams will be replacing up to ten of these track sections using heavy engineering equipment, as well as replacing almost 220 metres of track and installing new drainage channels and rain water catchpits.  

London Overground service changes - Thursday 25 December to Sunday 4 January

From Christmas day, there will be no London Overground Mildmay line services between Gospel Oak and Richmond/Shepherd’s Bush for 11 days. Services will resume on Monday 5 January 2026. During this time, passenger services will be in operation between Stratford and Gospel Oak / Willesden Junction. There will also be a shuttle service between Clapham Junction and Shepherd’s Bush. Local buses and other routes will be available, but passengers are advised to check the TfL journey planner before travelling www.tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey