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After Christmas, millions of people are on the move around Britain. But anyone planning to travel by train during the remaining five days 2024 faces possible disruption due to a combination of rail engineering work and strikes.
Even though most stations and routes have reopened after two days of closure, the UK’s two busiest stations – Liverpool Street and Paddington in London – remain shut, with disarray elsewhere.
Most trains through Wolverhampton in the West Midlands are cancelled due to signal failure, and London Northwestern Railway has cancellations between London Euston, Birmingham and Stafford.
All the advice and information you need is here.
London Liverpool Street
Main lines to Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire are all closed until Thursday morning, 2 January 2025. The Elizabeth Line, however, is working again.
Between Norwich, Ipswich and London, journey times are typically doubled. Passengers from East Anglia can take a train to Witham in Essex, where they board a bus to Billericay. From here they travel by train to Stratford, which has connections with the London Underground, Overground and Elizabeth Line.
Passengers between London and Stansted airport can use the Stansted Express trains starting and ending at Tottenham Hale.
London Paddington
The hub for South Wales and the West of England, will remain closed until Monday 30 December. Great Western Railway passengers from Cornwall, Devon, Swansea and Cardiff will have hourly trains to and from at London Euston.
They are advertised as nonstop between Euston and either Taunton or Swindon, but in fact they will stop at Reading – where boarding and alighting is not permitted – to change drivers.
Journey times are extended by about half-an-hour, and fewer trains will run.
London St Pancras
The line north from London St Pancras International is closed just outside the station for the replacement of a bridge, with no trains to Luton, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham or Sheffield. It will reopen on Monday 30 December.
Thameslink trains to Luton (including the airport) and Bedford are also closed.
London Euston is once again taking some of the strain, with passengers advised to travel to Milton Keynes Central by Avanti West Coast or London Northwestern train and take a connecting bus to Bedford.
West Coast main line
Crewe, one of the UK’s most important junctions, is closed all day on 27 December. Avanti West Coast trains between London Euston and Glasgow are diverted via Stoke and Manchester. No Avanti trains will run to or from Liverpool or Chester.
Avanti West Coast strikes
On New Year’s Eve train managers working for Avanti West Coast will begin a five-month series of strikes. The members of the RMT union will also stop work on 2 January and every Sunday from 12 January to 25 May inclusive. The dispute is over pay for working on rest days. Train managers have been offered £250 for weekdays and £300 at weekends, but they want more; train drivers earn a flat £600 for working on a day off.
A significantly reduced Avanti West Coast timetable will be in place on the first two strike days, 31 December and 2 January – with fewer services running during limited operating hours. The first train of the day will depart Euston around 8am and the last train of the day before 5pm.
North Wales, Blackpool and Edinburgh will have no Avanti West Coast services on strike days.
Tuesday 31 December
Avanti West Coast will run one train per hour between Euston and each of Birmingham, Manchester, and Preston with a limited services to Glasgow. One train every other hour between Liverpool and Crewe will also run. No Avanti West Coast trains will serve Macclesfield.
Thursday 2 January
The intercity operator will run one train per hour between Euston and each of Wolverhampton (via Birmingham), Crewe and Manchester. There will also be a limited service between Glasgow and Preston. No Avanti West Coast services will serve Warrington Bank Quay or Wigan North Western.
