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London can get very busy as the festive period draws closer, with large numbers all over the country and abroad ticking off their Christmas shopping, visiting the twinkling lights that decorate the streets or journeying to the capital to soak in the holiday atmosphere.
Yet train transport to the capital can also get crowded this time of year, with the combination of city day-trippers and work commuters battling for seats in the carriage.
Train operator London Northwestern Railway (LNR) has revealed that it is usually the first or second Saturday in December that has seen upwards of 32,000 day-trippers heading to the city in previous years.
However, LNR, which connects the capital to the UK’s other major cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, is projecting an even larger turnout in 2024.
Brits took 1.2 billion day trips in 2023, with London seeing 23 per cent of all day-trippers across the year, and the train operator predicts that the final total this year will potentially be even more.
In the lead-up to Christmas, LNR has revealed that the most popular day for train travel into London will be Saturday, 7 December 2024, making it the busiest time to book tickets into the city.
This has followed a historical trend of the busiest day for LNR travellers landing on the Saturday of the first full week of December.
In 2022, the busiest day was Saturday, 3 December, with 32,000-day trippers, while 2023’s busiest travel day was Saturday, 9 December, with 27,000 people taking the LNR line into London.
For the past three years, the first Saturday of December has been the busiest day to hop on a train into London, along with other tourists, shoppers and city explorers.
LNR advises that train passengers should always plan travel ahead of time, which will also potentially allow you to score cheaper tickets with advance fares.
Day-trippers should always ensure they have an organised itinerary written, allowing them to navigate London’s bustling streets, tourist attractions and festive activities while visiting.
If you have managed to sort your Christmas gift shopping all in one day but have ended up with a huge number of bags, LNR suggests checking how busy the train will be on the way home to make the journey more comfortable.
This can be done using online tools to check how packed the train will be.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
