Media centre

Tuesday 20 Dec 2022

Important travel advice for passengers this Christmas and New Year

Region & Route:

North West & Central

• Only absolutely necessary rail travel is advised this festive season
• Christmas Eve RMT strike action will see trains finish by 3pm
• Services will start much later than usual on December 27
• Some train operators won’t be running services at all
• People who must travel should expect disruption and check before they travel

Rail passengers who use the West Coast main line from London Euston to Carlisle and rail routes in the West Midlands, North West, Merseyside and Cumbria are being advised to only travel by train if absolutely necessary between December 24 and 8 January.

Ongoing strike action by members of the RMT union at Network Rail and many train operators, combined with annual Christmas railway upgrades, will bring disruption to trains.

On Christmas Eve (Saturday 24 December) passenger services will stop running between midday and 3pm ahead of a 72-hour strike until December 27.

For that reason, people are being encouraged to travel home for Christmas as early as possible this week.

On December 27 trains will restart later than they normally would – in some places after midday.

Several train operators are running a very limited service over the whole period until the New Year.

Passengers are urged to use National Rail Enquiries www.nationalrail.co.uk for the correct train information if they must travel over the coming weeks.

Train operators also have detailed updates on the services they are running:

• Avanti West Coast’s information page
• Chiltern Railways' information page
• CrossCountry’s information page
• West Midlands Railways' information page
• London Northwestern Railway's information page
• Transport for Wales’ information page
• Northern’s information page
• TransPennine Express’ information page
• East Midlands Railway’s information page
• Caledonian Sleeper's information page
• Transport for London's information page
• Merseyrail's information page

Dave Penney, Network Rail’s North West and Central region passenger director, said: “We’re really sorry to passengers who are facing further travel misery due to unnecessary strike action by the RMT, creating huge worry and anxiety for people who want to spend the holidays with their loved ones.

“We are working across the industry to provide the best service we can this Christmas, but our advice remains to only travel by train if absolutely necessary. If you must travel by rail please check before you set off on your journey by using National Rail Enquiries or checking with your train operator directly. Due to the short notice changes it is possible train times will be different than those on your ticket.”

Planned railway upgrades which will impact rail journeys beyond the 27 December include:

• Manchester Piccadilly station being closed entirely between Christmas Day (Sunday 25) and Tuesday 27 December for roof repairs, and platforms 13 and 14 being closed to trains for ten days between Sunday 25 December and Tuesday 3 January for resurfacing work.With those platforms closed there will be only one direct service per hour between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
• Major bridge renewals on the West Coast main line in Camden and Milton Keynes which will impact journeys between Rugby and Milton Keynes 27-28 December and 1 January.
• Journeys across the North between Manchester and York will also be disrupted by ongoing work on the Transpennine Route Upgrade. This will see journeys impacted between Leeds and Huddersfield from 31 December until 3 January while work continues to deliver a new station at Morley.

Further strike dates are also scheduled for the first week of 2023.

Two 48-hour walkouts are due to take place on Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4, and Friday 6 & Saturday 7 January. In between on Thursday 5, a strike by train drivers has today been announced by the ASLEF union .

Passengers can plan ahead by checking www.nationalrail.co.uk.