Millions of passengers to be hit by Christmas train chaos

The two busiest railway stations in Britain, London Liverpool Street and London Paddington, will close down for days after the last trains on Christmas Eve disrupting journeys for millions of passengers.

- SIMON CALDER

In addition, the main line from London St Pancras to Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield will shut for nine days over Christmas.

This year’s festive season will be the first since 2019 in which train passengers have not been afflicted by Covid travel restrictions, rail strikes or both. But key rail stations and intercity lines will be closed due to engineering work – including three hubs in the capital.

London Liverpool Street

The hub for East Anglia, including the airports at Stansted and Southend, handles the highest number of passengers in the UK. In 2022-23 the average was 221,000 travellers per day. When the next figures are published later this week, the total is expected to be significantly higher.

But from the last departures on 24 December the station will close for the rest of the year, reopening only on Thursday 2 January 2025. Network Rail engineers will be working within the Bishopsgate tunnel approaches just outside the station. The project includes the installation of steel support girders inside the tunnel. In addition, new ticket gates are to be installed and work on renewing roof panels will continue.

The Stansted Express will continue to run four times per hour but only as far as Tottenham Hale, where passengers can change for the Victoria line of the London Underground. “Allow additional time for your journey,” the company advises. The Elizabeth line, which runs beneath the station, will continue to operate.

Journey times between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London will typically take twice as long as normal because of work elsewhere on the line. The journey to the capital will involve a train to Witham in Essex; a rail replacement bus to Billericay; a train to Stratford and the Elizabeth line from there.

London Paddington