Major engineering work during the Christmas and New Year period 

Route(s) affected

Various routes

Description

There will be lots of planned essential engineering works and upgrades taking place during the festive period as Network Rail works to improve the railway. If you are travelling over the festive period, please check your journey before you travel to avoid disappointment.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day:

There are no National Rail services on Christmas Day as usual this year. On Boxing Day most train operators will have no service - however, there will be a limited train service operated by Chiltern Railways, London Overground, Merseyrail, ScotRail, Southern and Stansted Express only. You may find our festive Travel Summary useful, it contains lots of useful information and advice to help you be in the know before you go.

Major engineering work:

Network Rail carry out essential improvement and engineering work across the rail network during the Christmas and New Year period as fewer people usually travel by train.

This year the following major engineering work will be taking place:

• No trains will run to or from the main London Liverpool Street station from Saturday 27 December to Thursday 1 January. Greater Anglia trains will terminate at, and start back from Stratford (London), London Overground will terminate trains at, and start back from London Fields

• No trains will run to or from London Waterloo station or Vauxhall on Saturday 27 December and Sunday 28 December. Trains will start from and terminate at Clapham Junction or other stations. A limited service will run to and from London Waterloo from Monday 29 December to Sunday 4 January

• Buses will replace trains between Milton Keynes Central and Rugby / Northampton from Saturday 27 December to Sunday 4 January. Journeys on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and the Midlands / North West England / Scotland will be significantly disrupted by this work, with extended journey times

• No trains will run between Cambridge and Cambridge North, Bury St Edmunds and Stansted Airport from Saturday 27 December to Sunday 4 January. Significant changes will be made to journeys in the Cambridge area and a journey to and from Cambridge station will involve using a replacement bus

• Amended service between Leeds and York from Saturday 27 December to Sunday 25 January. Train services on the main route between these cities will be amended

• Buses will replace trains between Dalmuir and Balloch / Helensburgh from Friday 26 December until Wednesday 31 December. This also impacts services to Oban / Fort William / Mallaig which will run from Crianlarich instead of Glasgow Queen Street

• Amended service between Preston and Carlisle from Thursday 1 January to Wednesday 14 January. Journeys through this part of the West Coast Main Line will be significantly disrupted, with train diversions and buses replacing trains

• Buses will replace trains between Carlisle and Lockerbie from Thursday 1 January to Wednesday 14 January. Journeys on the West Coast Main Line between Carlisle and Glasgow / Edinburgh will be disrupted

There will also be improvement projects at numerous other locations. You can find details of all the engineering work that is taking place on our Status and Disruptions page.

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner

Rail Replacement Services:

For helpful advice if you need to travel on a rail replacement service, including accessibility and bicycle information, please use our Rail Replacement Services page.

You can find the pick-up and set-down location of rail replacement services by checking station signage or by searching for your station on our Find a Station page.

Please be advised that replacement vehicles may be busier than usual, and you should allow extra time for your journey.

Compensation:

You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.