Christmas rail travel: Which stations and routes in London will be shut?

Train services are set to be disrupted over the Christmas period as several major routes in and out of the capital shut down for engineering work.

Network Rail said more than 32,000 workers including engineers and contractors will spend more than half a million minutes on the railways over the festive season.

Routes from Paddington, London Bridge, Charing Cross and Liverpool Street are among the lines affected with some stations closed for the entire 10 days.

On top of this, some passengers’ services are likely to be hit by strike action.

But, Network Rail promised travellers will endure less travel disruption this year than last Christmas, with most of the investment work scheduled for Christmas Day and Boxing Day when no trains are planned to run.

Here is all you need to know:

Great Western Railway

London Paddington station will be closed for several days over Christmas for work on the Crossrail project, affecting services from the station.

Between December 24 and 27, no GWR trains will run to or from Paddington. Some trains will be diverted into Marylebone.

From December 28 to New Year’s Eve, GWR trains to Paddington will run but less frequently. Other services will run on an amended timetable.

Southeastern

Travellers who use the Southeastern line will be worst hit. From December 23 to January 1, four central London mainline stations and six others will be closed for Southeastern passengers.

For the entire 10 days the following stations will be closed for Southeastern: London Bridge, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, New Cross and St Johns.

Trains will be diverted to either Victoria, Waterloo or Blackfriars and will run to a different timetable.

Victoria is expected to be very busy between December 27 and 29, rail bosses said.

London Bridge station will still be open for Southern and Thameslink customers.

South Western Railway

RMT union members are set to walk out for 24 hours on New Year’s Eve. SWR said it is still finalising their plans for the upcoming walkout.

SWR is putting on extra coaches on December 23 to ferry people travelling for Christmas.

The line will have reduced services for much of the Christmas period.

Southern Rail

As with all rail routes, there will be no services on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Services on Southern are expected to be busier because of the shutdown of Southeastern.

On December 23, there will be no Southern or Thameslink service to or from London Bridge until 11am.

Greater Anglia

Major engineering work is being carried out on the Crossrail project, affecting services between Liverpool Street and Essex over the whole of the Christmas period.

No trains will run between Liverpool Street and Ingatestone or Billericay from Saturday, December 23 until Monday, January 1.

On top of this, members of the RMT union announced a 24-hour walkout on December 27 in a row over guards and safety.

Heathrow Express

There will be no service from Christmas Eve to December 27 because Paddington station is closed for engineering work.

Over the rest of the festive season, the line will see trains every 30 minutes with some amended departure times.

Gatwick Express

Engineering work means services on the Gatwick airport shuttle will be reduced to every half-hour over the Christmas period. There will be no service on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.