Travelling during the Christmas and New Year festive period? Be in the know before you go!

The next Christmas and New Year Bank Holiday period covered by this guide will be for Wednesday 23 December 2026 until Sunday 3 January 2027 inclusive (date range subject to final confirmation). This travel summary page will start being updated for 2026/27 approximately 12 weeks prior to those dates. We look forward to your return visit then.

The information below is either for the 2025/26 festive period which has now ended, or for the next bank holiday weekend in the calendar.

There will be lots of planned essential engineering works and upgrades taking place as Network Rail works to improve the railway. In addition, some train companies will be making changes to their timetable, and to some train times, to match services to the number of customers travelling.

Planning and checking your journey

You can plan and check your journey before you travel using the National Rail Journey Planner (below). Important information and useful travel advice relating to your journey may show with warning symbols on your journey results.

There will be no National Rail services on Christmas Day as usual this year. On Boxing Day most train operators will have no service - however, there will be a very limited train service operated by a small number of train operators (Chiltern Railways, London Overground, Merseyrail, ScotRail, Southern and Stansted Express).

Please note that Journey Planner information is subject to change as timetables are still being finalised. Please continue to check your journey until you are due to set off – this will give you a chance to adjust your journey plans in advance if necessary, and avoid any last-minute disappointment.

Please check our Status and Disruptions page for up-to-date real-time information.

Find out more about your rights if a train changes.

Christmas and New Year changes being made by your train company

​​​​​​​Details of the service each train company will be providing will be listed below nearer to the time (these pages are currently showing information for the next bank holiday period):

• Avanti West Coast

• c2c

• Caledonian Sleeper

• Chiltern Railways

• CrossCountry

• East Midlands Railway

• Elizabeth line

• Gatwick Express

• Grand Central

• Great Northern

• Great Western Railway

• Greater Anglia

• Heathrow Express

• Hull Trains

• Island Line

• LNER

• London Northwestern Railway

• London Overground

• Lumo

• Merseyrail

• Northern

• ScotRail

• South Western Railway

• Southeastern

• Southern

• Stansted Express

• Thameslink

• TransPennine Express

• Transport for Wales

• West Midlands Railway

Major Improvement work on your railway during Christmas and New Year

A considerable number of engineering and improvement projects will be undertaken by Network Rail at Christmas and New Year. Details of the major works will be published here when available.

For information on all future work taking place you can find details of all forthcoming engineering works on our website.

Social media

For the latest rail travel news, why not follow National Rail on X? Over 1 million people follow @nationalrailenq on X. Our social media team are available 24/7 (except Christmas Day) to answer your rail queries and supply you with the latest real-time travel updates.

Follow #ChristmasRailWorks on X for updates.