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Wednesday 14 Oct 2026

Most of Britain’s railway open for Christmas, with passengers advised to plan ahead around engineering work

Region & Route:

National

Passengers can travel across most of Britain’s railway this Christmas while engineers use the quieter festive period to deliver important upgrades at a small number of locations.

Most of the network will be open, helping passengers travel to see family and friends over Christmas and New Year. Where services are affected, passengers will have alternative journey options and should check before travelling and plan their journeys.

This will allow Network Rail to carry out a £152m investment programme to improve journeys, reliability and capacity, including major work at London Paddington, Birmingham New Street, and Huddersfield stations.

We recognise that any change to a journey can be inconvenient, particularly at Christmas. Engineers therefore plan the most disruptive work for the period between Christmas Day and the New Year, when passenger numbers can be at their lowest.

This is one of the few opportunities to complete major, multi-day projects at some of Britain’s busiest stations and on key routes, improving reliability for passengers and freight customers.

As usual, trains will not run on most routes in England on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Major projects include:

London Paddington

The station will be closed from Christmas Day, while engineers deliver a package of improvements across the Thames Valley on the main line into the station. The work will include replacing Dolphin Junction near Slough, upgrading overhead line equipment and installing new track, alongside a deep clean of Paddington station. These improvements will help deliver more reliable journeys for passengers.

Services will begin returning from New Year's Eve, with the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express resuming operations to and from Paddington. However, due to the scale of work taking place at Dolphin Junction, Great Western Railway services will be unable to access Paddington until Monday, 4 January. Long-distance GWR services will instead start and finish at Reading, while some services will divert to London Euston. Paddington station will remain open for customers to use toilets and other facilities.

Birmingham New Street

The station will be closed on Christmas Eve through to the start of service on Tuesday 29 December, as part of a three-year project to replace overhead power supplies for trains. This will improve the resilience of the system and keep the station flowing. There will also be a major project to replace track and points in nearby Soho.

Birmingham New Street station will remain open for passengers to use toilets and other facilities. 

Great Eastern Main Line

The route will be closed for 10 days from Christmas Days for a major track replacement project at Forest Gate in east London, replacing worn-out rails and sleepers to provide a better ride and better reliability for passengers as well as maintaining operational flexibility on this busy part of the railway into London Liverpool Street. This will mean no Greater Anglia or Elizabeth line rains will run through the area until the early hours of Monday 4 January.

Redhill

The railway through Redhill will be closed from 20 December for new track and points – which allow trains to cross from one track to another – to be laid in the station area. Points can be a cause of delay for passengers as they get older and harder to maintain in good condition, and replacing them a key part of improving punctuality for passengers. Services to Brighton and Gatwick Airport will run, however buses will replace trains from Reigate and intermediate stations from Earlswood to Purley on the Brighton Main Line. The work is planned to end in the early hours of Monday 4 January. 

Huddersfield

The Transpennine Route Upgrade programme begins the final phase of the transformation of Huddersfield Station this festive period, with the railway disrupted in the area from Christmas Day until the morning of February 1, working to bring huge improvements to services in West Yorkshire and the wider region, electrifying the railway and increasing capacity to allow for more, faster, quieter trains across the north.

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. Thank you for your patience while we deliver work that will make the railway more reliable for passengers and freight customers.”

Journey planners, including National Rail, are now up to date with travel information through to 4 January. Passengers are encouraged to check before they travel and allow extra time where their journey is affected.