London airports will be harder to reach by public transport over Christmas because of the widespread shutdown of the rail network.
Liverpool Street and Paddington stations will both be closed – having a direct impact on the Stansted Express, the Heathrow Express and Elizabeth line services to Heathrow.
In addition, there will be a part-closure of the Midland Main Line north of St Pancras – affecting East Midlands Railway services to Luton airport and Thameslink services to Luton and Gatwick.
The rail shutdown – to allow Network Rail to carry out £142m of track and station upgrades – will also affect fans attending the Arsenal v Ipswich Town and Tottenham v Wolves matches after Christmas.
Further chaos will be caused by a strike affecting Avanti West Coast trains in and out of Euston station. RMT members will not work on December 31, January 2 and then every Sunday until the end of May.
Euston will remain open – but passengers are advised to avoid the station if possible.
Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director for London Northwestern Railway, said: “Services to and from London Euston are expected to be very busy, so customers travelling over the festive period are encouraged to travel before Christmas Eve and after 2nd January where possible.”
Train services on many routes throughout Britain will finish earlier than normal on Christmas Eve.
As usual, there will be no trains on Christmas day – and only a handful of services on Boxing day.
Passengers are advised to reserve a seat if possible and to “only bring luggage that they can carry”.
Daniel Mann, director of industry operations at Rail Delivery Group, said: “With more people travelling this festive period compared to last year, please plan your journey in advance and check before you travel.”
What’s happening at Liverpool Street station?
Liverpool Street, the busiest rail station in the UK, will be closed between December 25 and January 1 inclusive to allow repairs to the Bishopsgate tunnel.
Stansted Express trains will depart and terminate at Tottenham Hale throughout the Liverpool Street closure. Only a revised Stansted Express service will run on Boxing Day.
London Overground “Weaver line” services will terminate at London Fields from Friday, 27 December, until Wednesday, January 1, and the frequency will be halved to a train every 30 minutes.
Greater Anglia services, both on the Great Eastern main line and West Anglia trains, will terminate at Stratford.
What’s happening at Paddington?
Paddington will be closed from December 27 to 29, meaning no Elizabeth line trains, Heathrow Express trains or Great Western Railway trains in and out of the station.
Passengers are advised to use the Central line or District line to connect with Ealing Broadway, where the Elizabeth line will run a reduced service to and from and Heathrow.
This will not serve terminal 4 – passengers will have to switch to the Heathrow Express.
There will be no Elizabeth line trains anywhere on Christmas day or Boxing day, but the Heathrow Express will operate a free shuttle service between the airport’s different terminals.
The closure of Paddington is to enable work to be carried out at the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common.
What’s happening at St Pancras?
The Midland Main Line will be closed for upgrades between Saturday December 21 and Sunday December 29, affecting Thameslink and East Midlands Railway services between St Pancras and Luton airport.
The track between St Pancras and Harpenden will be closed for nine consecutive days from December 21.
This is to allow East Midlands Railway to run its new greener fleet of bi-mode trains up to 125mph in the future.
As a result, there will be no East Midlands Railway services between St Pancras and Bedford and no Thameslink train services between St Pancras and Harpenden.
Journeys to Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans, Bedford, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield will take longer and involve a rail replacement bus.
EMR passengers can take West Coast Main Line services from Euston to Milton Keynes to catch a rail replacement bus to Bedford, where they will join their EMR train.
Thameslink passengers travelling to destinations between London and north of Harpenden can take East Coast Main Line services from King’s Cross to Hitchin or Potters Bar, where they can connect to rail replacement bus services to Luton Airport Parkway, or St Albans City and Harpenden. Thameslink trains will be operating from these stations to Bedford.
Additionally, there will be no Thameslink services between St Pancras and London Bridge from Friday 27 to Sunday 29.
The Thameslink disruption means that fewer trains will serve Gatwick airport.
How are the Arsenal and Spurs games affected?
The Arsenal v Ipswich match does not kick off until 8.15pm on Friday, December 27, meaning Ipswich fans – who would normally travel via Liverpool Street - will need a rail replacement bus from Billericay to Witham to help them get home to Suffolk.
However, the rail replacement bus service will not have enough capacity to transport all supporters.
The Spurs v Wolves game on Sunday, December 29, kicking off at 3pm, will have fewer London Overground trains to White Hart Lane and Greater Anglia trains to Northumberland Park – meaning fans are advised to walk from Seven Sisters or Tottenham Hale.
Rory O’Neill, TfL’s General Manager for London Overground, said: “We are asking football supporters to plan ahead if they are attending the match at Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Sunday 29 December.
“London Overground will only be operating a limited service to White Hart Lane station between Christmas and New Year.”
Are there trains to the Boxing Day sales?
But Chiltern Railways is laying on more trains. It will run two trains an hour from Marylebone on Boxing day to allow shoppers to visit the sales at the London Designer Outlet at Wembley Park and Bicester Village shopping centre.
Can I catch a coach instead of the train?
In better news, coach firm National Express is adding extra more than 30,000 seats on some of its key services to help travellers this Christmas.
Between December 22 and January 5, National Express expects more than half a million passengers to travel on its buses.
On Christmas day, it will operate more than 340 coaches.
Over the festive period, it will provide extra services to Luton airport, Stansted airport and Heathrow.
These are to its A1 & A2 services between Luton Airport and Victoria coach station, calling at Golders Green, Finchley Road, St John’s Wood, Baker Street, Paddington and Marble Arch.
There will also be more A7, A8, A9 coaches linking Stansted and central or east London, and to its 550 & 551 services linking London with Chester, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Birmingham Airport, Milton Keynes and Heathrow airport.
