BRITAIN’S busiest train station is set to shut for eight days over the Christmas period bringing travel misery to thousands of Brits.
Network Rail confirmed the station, which served more than 80 million passengers in 2022/23, will be closed from Christmas Day until January 2 for improvement works.
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The closures at London Liverpool Street will mean delays and likely cancellations for people looking to visit loved ones or return home following the festive celebrations.
As a result, Greater Anglia trains, including Stansted Express, will be diverted to Stratford station.
London Overground services will also be disrupted and will terminate at London Fields station.
This includes trains from Chingford that do not usually stop at the station.
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There are likely to be less Overground services as well, with two per hour to Chingford and one per hour to Enfield Town and Cheshunt.
The Christmas works at Liverpool Street are being undertaken to renew the shed roof panels, add more ticket gates for platforms 1-10 and work within Bishopsgate Tunnel.
Information on service alternations will be made available on your train operator websites in due course or via National Rail Enquiries.
Liverpool Street won’t be the only station facing major disruption over the Christmas period however.
London Paddington station will be closed for three days between December 27 and 29.
The station, which serves as the gateway to the West Country, and provides trains to Heathrow Airport, will have no mainline services.
This is due to Network Rail who will be working on construction of a new station at Old Oak Common, 3 miles west of Paddington.
Elsewhere, there will be heavy disruption at London St Pancras station between December 21 and 29 due to work on the Midland Main Line.
This means there will be no Thameslink trains between St Pancras and Harpenden.
Additionally, there will be no East Midlands Railway services between the central London terminus and Bedford.
This will also cause problems for people looking to get away if they are flying from London Luton Airport, which is normally just a 30-minute train ride away.
Diversion routes over Christmas period
The Christmas period is set to see major disruption across London stations.
We summarise the best guidance and advice on the diversion routes.
Remember that information on service alternations will be made available on your train operator websites or via National Rail Enquiries.
Always plan ahead.
London Liverpool Street (25th December – 2nd January)
Greater Anglia services, including Stansted Express, will be diverted to Stratford station.
While it may seem inconvenient, the journey between Stratford to Liverpool Street should take you 10 minutes or less to make even with the closures.
Disrupted passengers will be able to access most Elizabeth line services to and from Stratford as well as the Central and Jubilee lines.
London Overground services on the other hand will be curtailed at London Fields, around 2 miles north east of Liverpool Street.
Travellers will be able to use buses to complete their journey between the two stations.
Those living up the lines towards Enfield Town and Cheshunt however are also advised to use Walthamstow Central and Seven Sisters stations to access the Victoria line to travel to and from central London.
London Paddington (27th – 29th December)
Long distance Great Western Railway (GWR) services will be diverted into London Euston station.
Passengers can travel between the two stations via Circle and Hammersmith and City line services at Euston Square and Paddington.
Local bus routes will also be available.
GWR services will also run between Ealing Broadway and Didcot Parkway, with some extending to Swindon, Bristol Parkway or Cardiff Central.
Travel from Ealing Broadway and Paddington will still be possible via the Elizabeth line or through the use of the London Underground.
GWR will operate trains between Reading and:
- Bristol Temple Meads
- Exeter St Davids, Paignton or Plymouth
- Oxford, Worcester, Great Malvern or Hereford
- Newbury or Bedwyn
Services will also be unaffected between:
- West Ealing and Greenford
- Slough and Windsor & Eton Central
- Maidenhead and Marlow
- Twyford and Henley-on-Thames
London St Pancras (21st – 29th December)
Thameslink services will not run between St Pancras and Harpenden.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) will not be running any trains between St Pancras and Bedford over the same period.
According to EMR, customers travelling to London St Pancras will be required to transfer to rail replacement buses, which will operate between Bedford and Milton Keynes.
From there, customers can continue their journey into London Euston via the West Coast Main Line.
Customers travelling north from London will need to take a train from London Euston to Milton Keynes, where rail replacement buses will transfer them over to EMR services at Bedford.
Customers should be aware that journey times are expected to be extended by up to one hour due to the replacement bus services.
Network Rail has confirmed 95% of the train network will be running as normal.
Helen Hamlin, Network Rail’s director of system operations, said: “The festive period is a unique opportunity, when fewer people are travelling, to do big pieces of work to make services better, more punctual and more reliable.
“The major projects we’re undertaking would otherwise take many weekends to complete and cause much more disruption.
“Whilst roads are busier during the holidays, it’s actually one of the quietest times on the railway, meaning we can improve things whilst causing less disruption to passengers and freight flows.”