Network rail CLOSE the UK's busiest stations for days over Christmas

A handful of London's busiest stations will be closed with train services diverted around the festive period, Network Rail has warned.

Rail users have been told plan their journeys ahead of Christmas as Liverpool Street will be closed for eight days and Paddington shut for three days.

Eight days of work that will cause disruption on the Thameslink and East Midlands services north of St Pancras.

The planned closures and disruption will also affect trains to London's biggest airport - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton.

There will be significant diversions to services in the Crewe area too due to works with a reduced service running to Manchester and Liverpool.

Network Rail said that the number of passengers travelling during the seven days between Christmas and New Year typically drops by around 50 per cent meaning work carried out over the festive period causes much less disruption than during a regular week. 

Tens of thousands of railway engineers are set to be working over Christmas and new year to provide better, more reliable services for passengers, Network Rail said.

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Helen Hamlin, Network Rail's director of system operations, said: 'The festive period is a unique opportunity, when fewer people are travelling, to do big pieces of work to make services better, more punctual and more reliable. 

'The major projects we're undertaking would otherwise take many weekends to complete and cause much more disruption. 

'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. 

'Most of the railway will be open as normal over Christmas and New Year, so passengers can go ahead and book their travel – timetables will start to go live this weekend. Just be sure to plan ahead as there will be significant changes to journeys on some key routes.' 

The most severe delays are set to be on the Midland main line as engineering work will take place between December 21 to December 29. 

There will be no East Midlands Railway (EMR) services between London St Pancras and Bedford and Thameslink services will not run between London St Pancras and Harpenden.

Passengers who usually take the train north from London St Pancras will need to use different London stations and connecting buses to reach their destinations. 

No services will call at London Paddington between December 27 and 29 due to work on HS2’s new Old Oak Common station.

Some services will instead be diverted to and from London Euston, with the majority of trains starting or stopping at Reading and Ealing Broadway. 

Work at Bishopsgate Tunnel and at London Liverpool Street itself means the station will be closed from  December 25 with services resuming on January 2. 

Greater Anglia services, including Stansted Express, will be diverted via Stratford, while London Overground services will terminate at London Fields. 

Signaling work will affected trains in the Crewe area between December 25 and January 2. Crewe station will be closed on December 27.

Trains to Manchester and Liverpool will be disrupted from December 28 until January 3.

Replacement buses will be put in place instead of trains into Cambridge starting on December 25 to January 6.