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After Christmas, millions of people are on the move across Britain. But anyone planning to travel by train during the remaining five days of 2024 faces possible disruption due to a combination of rail engineering work and strikes.
Although most stations and routes have reopened after two days of closure, two of the UK’s busiest stations – Liverpool Street and Paddington in London – remain closed and chaos elsewhere.
The engineering work overruns meant that Ealing Broadway, which was the replacement terminal for London Paddington, was also closed, with many cancellations.
Trains in between
Most trains through Wolverhampton in the West Midlands have been canceled due to the signal failure, with London Northwestern Railway having cancellations in between London EustonBirmingham and Stafford.
Eurostar services between London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam are in disarray after that the train broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Passengers on the affected train had to change to another line in Calais and are expected to be delayed by six hours in the French capital.
Here are all the tips and information you need.
London Liverpool Street
Main lines to Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire are closed until Thursday morning, 2 January 2025. The Elizabeth line, however, is back in service.
Between Norwich, Ipswich and London, journey times are usually doubled. Travelers 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 to London Underground, Overground and the Elizabeth line.
Passengers traveling between London and Stansted Airport can use Stansted Express trains which start and end 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 London Euston.
They are advertised as non-stop between Euston and Taunton or Swindon, but will in fact stop at Reading – where no boarding or alighting is allowed – to change drivers.
Travel times are extended by about half an hour, and fewer trains will run.
London St Pancras
A line north of London St Pancras International is closed just outside the station due to bridge replacement, no trains to Luton, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham or Sheffield. It will reopen on Monday, December 30.
Thameslink trains to Luton (including the airport) and Bedford are also closed.
London Euston is again taking some of the load, with passengers advised to travel to Milton Keynes Central until Forward West Coast or London Northwestern by train and take a bus connecting Bedford.
West Coast Main Line
Crewe, one of the UK’s most important junctions, was closed all day on 27 December. Avanti West Coast trains between London Euston and Glasgow are diverted via Stoke and Manchester. Avanti trains will not run to or from Liverpool or Chester.
Eurostar
Passengers were stuck on a Eurostar train in the Channel Tunnel for two and a half hours on Friday morning after an apparent breakdown on the London-Paris line.
The train eventually departed at 9.30am UK time, 70 minutes after it was due to arrive in the French capital. Passengers were taken to Calais Fréthun station to wait for a replacement train. They are expected to be six hours late when they arrive in Paris.
At London St Pancras, arrivals from Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam run 30 to 70 minutes behind schedule.
Disruption may cause cancellations later in the day at times when Eurostar services are extremely busy.
A Eurostar spokesman said: “The safety and well-being of our customers is our priority. We are keeping them informed as we resolve the situation and are truly sorry for the delay in their journey today.”
The 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm arrivals from Paris to London are currently shown as 50, 70 and 30 minutes behind schedule. A fee is payable for a delay of one hour or more.
Last Christmas, thousands of Eurostar passengers had their trains canceled due to a strike by Eurotunnel workers.
Avanti West Coast is on strike
On New Year’s Eve train managers working for Avanti West Coast will begin a a five-month series of strikes. Members of the RMT trade union stop work on January 2 and every week from January 12 until May 25. The dispute is about pay for work on rest days. Train conductors were offered £250 on weekdays and £300 on weekends, but they want more; train drivers earn a flat of £600 for working a day off.
A significantly reduced Avanti West Coast timetable will be in place for the first two days of the strike, December 31 and January 2 – with fewer services running during limited hours. The first train of the day will leave Euston at around 8am and the last train of the day before 5pm.
North Wales, Blackpool and Edinburgh will not have Avanti West Coast services on strike days.
Tuesday, December 31
Avanti West Coast will run one train per hour between Euston and each of Birmingham, Manchester and Preston with 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 January 2nd
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.