Christmas railway engineering to cause ten days of disruption

Summarised from 2 outlets · 5 reports · Updated 2 Nov, 13:17 · Archive

Ten days of engineering work will close major stations including London Paddington and Birmingham New Street over Christmas.

Passengers on some of Great Britain's busiest railway lines face significant disruption over Christmas from ten days of engineering works. London Paddington station will close, affecting intercity trains to the west of England and Wales until January. Birmingham New Street, the UK's busiest station outside London, will also shut for five days over the holiday period. The east coast mainline will be partly closed on Christmas Eve, affecting passengers travelling between London, north-east England and Scotland. Direct trains from London to parts of Essex and Norfolk will be cut for much of the festive period.

Network Rail said most routes would stay open and that the Christmas period, when train services generally stop for 25 and 26 December, remained the best time to conduct essential works. Engineers plan to carry out about £152m of work to improve reliability and capacity. Most Great Western services to Wales and the west of England will start and finish at Reading from 27 December until 4 January, with some services diverting to London Euston via Oxford. Elizabeth line services west of Paddington and Heathrow Express services will not resume after Christmas until 31 January.

Birmingham's New Street station will be closed from Christmas Eve until 29 December to replace overhead power supplies. No trains will stop or pass through, with rail replacement buses serving the city centre.

How it is being reported

• London travel news LIVE: Tube line suspension hits morning rush hour as 'obstruction' blocks trackLondon Underground line suspended while staff try to remove ‘obstruction’ from trackEvening Standard · 2 Nov, 08:40
• London travel news LIVE: Tube line suspended as DLR trains disruputd by 'customer incident'London Underground line suspended while engineers try to fix signal faultEvening Standard · 2 Nov, 06:48
• Signalling problem causes havoc for rail passengers at London Euston stationThe issue caused Euston Underground station to be closed because of overcrowdingEvening Standard · 31 Oct, 20:49
• Christmas travel nightmare as major London station to close with key rail lines facing disruptionClosure of London station to cause major problems for passengers, especially those trying to reach key airportEvening Standard · 31 Oct, 16:17
• Railway engineering work over Christmas will cause 10 days of disruptionLondon Paddington and Birmingham New Street stations will shut for five days but most routes will stay open Passengers travelling on some of Great Britain’s busiest railway lines at Christmas have been warned of significant disruption from 10 days of engineering works. Work will close London’s Paddington station – affecting intercity trains to the west of England and Wales until January – as well as Birmingham New Street, the UK’s busiest station outside the capital, for five days over the holiday period. Continue reading...Guardian World · 31 Oct, 11:00

In this story: London Paddington · Birmingham New Street · Network Rail · Wales · Reading · London Euston · Elizabeth line · Great Western

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log