One of the four busiest rail stations in Britain will be closed completely over Christmas and the New Year as part of widespread engineering work over the festive period.
Passengers already face four more days of national rail strikes planned on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December, in addition to widespread local industrial action.
Travellers will find rail journeys again disrupted in late December and early January as Network Rail closes lines and stations.
The usual expresses connecting London with Gatwick and Stansted airports will not run, though alternative train links will be available.
Network Rail says: “Work will take place from Friday 23 December 2022 to Tuesday 3 January 2023.
“The vital improvements and routine maintenance around Britain will give you a better and more reliable railway for the long term.”
As usual, trains will end earlier than usual on Christmas Eve, with no passenger trains anywhere in the UK on 25 December. Very few trains will run on Boxing Day.
The last engineering works will end as the next round of national rail strikes begin. The first RMT national walk-out of 2023 is scheduled for 3, 4, 6 and 7January.
These are the key locations for planned engineering disruption.
London Liverpool Street
The Greater Anglia terminus will be closed to passengers from 25 December to 2 January inclusive, due to “bridge reconstruction, switches and crossing refurbishment and track maintenance”.
During the nine days of closure, Stansted Express trains and services to and from Cambridge will start and end at Tottenham Hale in North London.
Trains serving Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich will start and end at Ingatestone, a village between Brentwood and Chelmsford. A bus link will run between Ingatestone and Newbury Park, a station on the “Hainault Loop” of the London Underground Central line.
Passengers will travel to and from central London on the Tube.
To and from Southend, a similar arrangement will apply via Billericay.
Many other passengers to and from London face problems.
London Victoria
The western half of the terminus, serving south London, Surrey and Sussex, will be shut from Christmas Day to Monday 2 January inclusive, with no Southern or Gatwick Express. The closure is due to resignalling and track work between Clapham Junction and Balham.
Most Southern trains will be diverted to run to and from London Bridge…
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