Nightmare before Christmas: HS2 to disrupt rail travel on 24 December

Exclusive: Work on the high-speed line will block the Great Western line intermittently for at least the next five years

HS2, the high-speed rail project that the government has largely scrapped, will cause serious disruption for rail passengers hoping to travel between London, South Wales and the West of England over Christmas – and intermittently for the next five years.

Work on the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common in west London will close the Great Western main line from 24 to 27 December.

No Great Western Railway (GWR) trains will run between the capital and Cardiff, Bristol, the Cotswolds, Devon and Cornwall during the four-day spell.

Joanna Grew, Network Rail’s industry programme director, said: “We will be carrying out essential preparatory drainage and railway infrastructure works as part of the construction of HS2’s new station at Old Oak Common near London Paddington.

“We appreciate there is never a good time to disrupt journeys but whenever possible we do this at times when fewer people are travelling, such as at Christmas, on bank holidays or at weekends.”

The closure of one of the UK’s key rail lines is part of a nationwide programme of engineering projects that will hit especially hard on Christmas Eve, when several key London stations will be out of action:

• Paddington, hub for the Great Western main line
• King’s Cross, southern terminus of the East Coast main line
• Victoria (Southeastern lines)

The “nightmare before Christmas” will also close other key rail lines on 24 December:

• Leeds-Wakefield
• York-Darlington (from early evening)
• Southampton Airport-Bournemouth

No trains are scheduled to run anywhere in the UK on 25 December. Many of these projects will continue into the final week of the year, with work continuing in some areas until 2 January.

Last month Rishi Sunak cancelled the remaining sections of the link from the Midlands to the North of England that had not previously been axed.

But work is continuing on the southern stretch from Birmingham to Old Oak Common.

Over Christmas, GWR intercity services from South Wales and the West of England will start and end at Reading – which passengers to and from London can access via a limited number of trains on the Waterloo line.

Dean Haynes, GWR’s station manager for London Paddington, said: “To keep you moving, we have been working with other train companies to provide alternative routes. However, if you can travel on the days before or after, you should consider doing so because journeys will take much longer while the work takes place.”

From 24 to 27 December the Heathrow Express has also been cancelled, and the Elizabeth Line will be interrupted between Paddington and Ealing Broadway.

Future proof: Work on the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common, west London (HS2)

Disruption on the Great Western main line (GWML) caused by HS2 is set to continue intermittently for at least five more years.

Last year the Department for Transport warned: “Between 2023 and the end of 2028, work will significantly ramp up with access to Paddington via the GWML expected to be unavailable for extended periods.”