During the Christmas period, passengers in East Anglia are being warned of engineering works which will affect some rail services.
There will be no train services across the region on Christmas Day and no bus replacement services on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.
Across East Anglia on Christmas Eve, some train services may finish early and passengers should check the departure times.
There will be no train services on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, except the Stansted Express, which will run to a special timetable, and on 26th December will be starting to finish at Tottenham Hale.
List of Christmas Engineering works affecting train services around East Anglia.
Wednesday 25 December – Wednesday 1 January // Liverpool Street Engineering Works: London Liverpool Street station, including its shops and retail outlets on the concourse will be closed for engineering work.
Platform barriers and gates will be replaced between platforms 1 & 10, reducing any future congestion during the rush hours.
Work on the Roof renewal program will also commence, which will see the drainage improved and the replacement of over 600 panels of glass.
The installation of steel support girders and repairs to existing steelwork will be undertaken across the station.
Greater Anglia and London Overground services will be affected during the closure of London and Liverpool Street.
Great Eastern and West Anglia mainline services will be running to and from Stratford, except for Stansted Express services, which will run to and from Tottenham Hale, with London Overground services only running to and from London Fields.
Wednesday 25 December 2024 – Sunday 5 January 2025 // Engineering works around Cambridge: Over the whole 12 days of Christmas, work on the building of the new Cambridge South station which will see the new lines connected to the rail network.
The first part of the Cambridge area signalling renewal program will also be undertaken near the station, while track work and improvements at Shepreth branch junction and Foxton sidings will be addressed, enabling trains to transfer quickly between the running lines.
While these works around the Cambridge area are undertaken, there will be changes to Greater Anglia, Thameslink, Great Northern, and CrossCountry services.
Between Friday 27 December and Wednesday 1 January 2025, there will be no train services between Royston/Elsenham and Cambridge/Cambridge North.
Rail services between Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds will also be affected. Rail replacement bus services will be available from Friday 27 December serving the intermediate stations.
Train services between Elsenham and Audley End will continue from Thursday 2 January 2025. During this time, rail replacement bus services will operate from Royston/Audley End to Cambridge/Cambridge North. From Monday 6 January 2025, train services from Cambridge will return to normal.
Wednesday 25 December – Saturday 28 December 2024 // Engineering work for the new Beaulieu Park station: This four-day closure will see the third line through the station site being brought into operation.
As this is being undertaken, the signalling system will also be upgraded to display the new track layout between Chelmsford and Hatfield Peverel.
Following Boxing Day, a replacement bus service will be in place between Billericay and Witham on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 December for Great Eastern mainline services via Chelmsford to assist passengers in completing their journey. Train services via Chelmsford are expected to resume on Sunday 29 December.
As with rail services, bus replacement services will not run on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. It is advised that passengers should check with NationalRail.co.uk or their local train operator before travelling.
“We’re continuing to deliver major improvements to the Anglia rail network this Christmas to the benefit of passengers and our customers.
With two big station projects, a huge re-signalling programme around Cambridge and improvement work at the UK busiest station, we’ve got a lot to do over the festive period to get the work done while trains are not running.
It is important to allow our skilled engineers the time to be able to work safely on the track while trains are not running, and so I want to thank everyone for their patience while we deliver this important work to improve the railway.”
Lawrence Bowman, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia
Responses
Network Rail needs to continue on replacing overhead wires including on the LTS line between Barking-Fenchurch Street, Barking-Pitsea, Pitsea-Shoeburyness and Grays-Upminster. As well as finishing off with replacing overhead wires between Prittlewell-Southend Victoria. And to start replacing overhead wires on the Manchester Piccadilly-Gosslop & Hadfield lines that was once part of the Woodhead Line.