Although most of Britain’s railway network will remain open over Christmas, some services will be affected as Network Rail will be working on around 400 projects during that time.

Over the Christmas period, Network Rail will renew 45 sets of points, rebuild four bridges, install 40km of new signalling cables, renew 17 level crossings, and commission seven new signalling systems.

Across Network Rail’s managed stations, the number of passengers travelling during the seven days between Christmas and New Year typically drops by 50-60% compared to a typical week in November or early December.

As a result, engineering work carried out over the festive period causes much less disruption than during a busier, regular week.

In London, work will be carried out in Bishopsgate Tunnel and improvements made at London Liverpool Street station, which will be closed from Wednesday 25th December until Wednesday 1st January, with services resuming on Thursday, 2nd January.

During that time, Greater Anglia and Stansted Express services will be diverted via Stratford and London Overground services will terminate at London Fields.

Passengers will be able to complete their journeys on the Victoria line from Walthamstow Central and Seven Sisters or on local bus services.

On the Midland Main Line, between Saturday, 21st and Sunday, 29th December, there will be no East Midlands Railway services between London St Pancras and Bedford and no Thameslink services between London St Pancras and Harpenden, and passengers will need to travel from different London stations.

There will be no train services in or out of London Paddington between Friday, 27th and Sunday, 29th December. Some services will be diverted to/from London Euston, but most will start and stop at Reading or Ealing Broadway, from where passengers can transfer to London Underground’s District or Central lines.

In the Crewe area, there will be no train services through Crewe on Friday, 27th December, and between Saturday, 28th December until Friday, 3rd January, there will be no direct service to Liverpool and a reduced service to Manchester.

Because of engineering work in connection with the new Cambridge South station, there will be no services between Royston/Audley End and Cambridge/Cambridge North from Wednesday 25 December to Sunday 5 January, with a rail replacement bus service in operation.

“Whilst roads are busier during the holidays, it’s actually one of the quietest times on the railway, meaning we can improve things whilst causing less disruption to passengers and freight flows. The major projects we’re undertaking would otherwise take many weekends to complete and cause more disruption to passengers. Most of the railway will be open as normal over Christmas and New Year, so passengers can continue to book their travel, just be sure to plan ahead as there will be significant changes to journeys on some routes.”