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Christmas and New Year 2023 Travel Summary

If you’re travelling over the festive period, please plan your journey in advance

Check before you travel this Christmas and New Year

There are planned essential engineering works and upgrades taking place as Network Rail works to improve the railway, so we suggest you plan your journeys over the Christmas and New Year holiday in advance.

Some train services are affected and there will be disruption on many routes between Christmas Eve (Sunday 24 December 2023) and Tuesday 2 January 2024 inclusive.

Some train companies will be making changes to their timetable, and to some train times, to match services to the number of customers travelling.

So, be in the know before you go and check before you travel using the National Rail Journey Planner below.

Plan Your Journey

Please check our Status and Disruptions page for up-to-date real-time information.

Find out more about your rights if a train changes.

Christmas and New Year changes being made by your train company

​​​​​​​Details of the service each train company will be providing are listed below. 


Major Improvement work on your railway during Christmas and New Year

A considerable number of engineering and improvement projects will be undertaken at Christmas and New Year. The impact of this work is showing in Journey Planners (although please take note of any Service Updates showing with a warning triangle on your journey).

The major engineering headlines for the festive period:

  • London Kings Cross station will have major improvement work taking place on Christmas Eve, Sunday 24 December. This will affect journeys on the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh, Leeds, Newcastle, York, Peterborough plus many other stations.

  • London Paddington station will have major improvement work taking place between Christmas Eve, Sunday 24 December, and Wednesday 27 December inclusive. This will affect journeys to and from South Wales, Bristol, the West Country and Heathrow Airport.

  • Heathrow Airport will have no direct National Rail services to or from central London between Sunday 24 December and Wednesday 27 December inclusive. Elizabeth line will run between Ealing Broadway and Heathrow Airport on 24 and 27 December only. Please use London Underground connections between central London and Ealing Broadway / Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Express will not operate at all on any of those days.

  • London Victoria station will have no Southeastern services between Saturday 23 December and Monday 1 January 2024 inclusive. Southeastern trains will use alternative London terminal stations.

For more information on the work taking place, you can find details of all forthcoming engineering works on our website.

Social media

For the latest rail travel news, why not follow National Rail on X? Over 1 million people follow @nationalrailenq on X. Our social media team are available 24/7 (except Christmas Day) to answer your rail queries and supply you with the latest real-time travel updates.

You can also follow #ChristmasRailWorks on social media for updates.