Thousands of Christmas train journeys to be disrupted by engineering work

Many of the UK’s busiest railway lines will be disrupted over the festive period because of engineering work, affecting thousands of passengers.

Affected routes include lines serving London Waterloo and the Cambridge area, between Leeds and York, and the West Coast Main Line (WCML), Network Rail announced.

The Government-owned company said it will invest more than £130 million through work taking place during the days around Christmas and New Year.

It insisted this is the “best time” for it to conduct major projects because of the drop in passenger numbers, as commuter and business travel diminishes.

Passengers are being urged by Network Rail to check online journey planners, and reminded that “booking ahead is essential as some lines will be very busy”.

Several sections of the WCML will be disrupted.

Between Christmas Day and January 5, no trains will operate between Milton Keynes and Rugby to enable a track junction to be replaced at Hanslope, Buckinghamshire.

The replacement of a bridge above the M6 dating back to the 1960s means there will be no services between Preston and Carlisle between New Year’s Eve and January 15.

There will also be no trains between Carlisle and Lockerbie between New Year’s Day and January 7 because of signalling work.

Elsewhere on the network, there will be no trains between Leeds and York between Christmas Day and January 2.

No trains will run between Cambridge North, Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds and Stansted Airport between Christmas Day and January 5.

London Waterloo, one of the UK’s busiest stations, will be closed to trains between Christmas Day and December 28, and will have a reduced timetable between December 29 and January 4.

In Scotland, there will be no trains between Dalmuir and Balloch/Helensburgh Central, or between Glasgow Queen Street and Crianlarich, between Christmas Eve and January 2.

Some 95% of Britain’s railways will be unaffected by engineering work, Network Rail said.

But, as usual, the entire network will shut down on Christmas Day.

Most operators will also run no trains on Boxing Day, but a handful will have a very limited timetable.

Network Rail’s chief network operator Helen Hamlin said: “The period between Christmas and New Year is the quietest on the railway and it’s the best time for us to do the major projects that will take longer than a night or a weekend to complete.

“We work with train operators to organise diversions and rail replacement buses for passengers who are travelling, but it’s still so important to plan ahead.

“That’s especially the case this year as we have some very big plans for improving the railway that will mean people may have to travel home on different routes after Christmas than the way they travelled out.”

Daniel Mann, director of industry operations at industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said: “You can use National Rail Enquiries and journey planners to check for updates, and our visual disruption maps – short videos designed to help people understand service changes and make informed travel decisions – will also be available in stations and online.

“The industry is working hard to run as many services as possible, and we kindly remind our customers to remember to treat our railway colleagues with respect during this busy time, as they work to ensure a safe and reliable service for everyone.”