Boxing Day travel disruption as trains cancelled across the UK

Many train services throughout Britain have been cancelled on Boxing Day, with more regular services not resuming until Friday.

Cross-country services are off, making hitting the road or taking a flight the only option to return from one end of the UK to the other after Christmas Day.

LNER, which operates trains from London up to the east of England and into Scotland, will not reopen until Friday.

Avanti West Coast which runs cross country trains from London to Glasgow, is on the same festive timetable.

Most regional train services in England will remain closed on 26 December including Thameslink, East Midlands Railway and Great Northern.

A limited Southern service will run on some routes between Brighton and London Victoria.  

A service around Liverpool will be up and running by Merseyrail to transport people attending the Boxing Day races at Aintree.

In Scotland, most rail routes between major towns and cities are back operating on Boxing Day, including between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

There are no trains running in Wales or Northern Ireland.

Most rail routes will reopen on Friday 27 December, operating their services until closures hit again over New Year.

However, some busy routes will remain closed after Boxing Day so that engineering works can be carried out.

The busiest train station in the UK, London Liverpool Street, is scheduled to be closed for the rest of the year, only reopening on Thursday 2 January.

Meanwhile, London Paddington, which connects the capital to the west of England and South Wales, will be shut until 30 December. People travelling to and from Cornwall, Devon and Cardiff can instead take trains to London Euston.

A new series of strikes, to continue on days spread up until Easter, begins on 31 December by Avanti West Coast drivers. It will disrupt trains run by company between London and Glasgow via the west of England.

London Underground services which were off on Christmas Day have mostly now reopened, although the Elizabeth Line remains closed.

The London Overground lines are all partially closed, and are only operating between certain points.

There are no Overground services between Richmond and Willesden Junction, Euston and Watford Junction, or Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction.

Transport for London services will largely be back to a more regular schedule on 27 December.

Buses are a more reliable option than trains on Boxing Day. TfL says London buses will be running on a Sunday service.

In terms of reaching airports, the Gatwick Express is closed, while the closure of the Elizabeth Line shuts a route to Heathrow on Boxing Day. The Stansted Express is running to and from Tottenham Hale station. National Express buses are the best substitute from trains.

At the airports themselves there is no major disruption as of 10am on Boxing Day. A handful of flights are delayed at Heathrow, with one transatlantic cancellation of a Delta flight to Salt Lake City.

The mild temperatures over Christmas week cancelling out any hopes of a white Christmas have also limited the disruption on the roads that could have brought.