Network Rail has confirmed that more than the 96% of the rail network will be open for ‘business as usual’ over Christmas and New Year, while revealing the engineering work that will disrupt some services, particularly in South East England.

The seasonal programme of works, costing £127m, is lighter than in recent years. There was more disruption last year.

Significant disruption will include:

• Work outside London Victoria station including maintenance and resignalling work: Southeastern services will divert to Blackfriars, Charing Cross and Cannon Street (Saturday 23 December to Monday 1 January).
• HS2 work at Old Oak Common and laying new track at West Drayton: no services will run from London Paddington between Sunday 24 and Wednesday 27 December; long-distance services will terminate at Reading with onward travel to either Ealing Broadway or London Waterloo; London’s Underground’s Piccadilly Line is fully open for travel to Heathrow Airport.
• Work on introducing digital signalling to the East Coast Main Line will take place between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin: no long-distance services will run to or from London King’s Cross on Sunday 24 December; LNER, Hull Trains, Lumo, Thameslink and Great Northern services will be affected, and no Grand Central services will operate. Alternative travel arrangements can be found online at National Rail Enquiries.
• Work near Southampton will disrupt services, as will work to build the new Cambridge South station. Details of diversions and alternatives are available online.

Network Rail is urging passengers to check their journey in advance, which they can do by visiting National Rail Enquiries or checking with their train operator.

Lawrence Bowman, network strategy director for Network Rail, said: “We understand how important this time of year is for our passengers for reconnecting with family and friends. With more than 96% of the network open for business as usual, we have tried as far as possible to design our investment projects around our passengers and keep disruption to a minimum.

“We are carrying out some significant projects, not as many as past years, but still some £127m of investment ranging from laying new track, installing new bridges and making improvements to stations so that passengers can benefit from better and more reliable services and facilities.

“We plan our Christmas engineering programmes months- and in some cases years- in advance and target the quietest times – overnight, weekends and Christmas Day and Boxing Day to ensure we keep what disruption there is to an absolute minimum and will always looks to use diversions rather than put people on buses.

“But some routes will see disruption as we upgrade the railway, so it’s important that passengers check their journeys before travelling.”