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Christmas rail improvement works

This Christmas, Network Rail will be carrying out the latest round of enabling work for the construction of the planned Old Oak Common station on the line just outside London Paddington.

Network Rail is also planning track maintenance and renewals at the same time to minimise the impact on customers.

As usual train services will finish earlier on Christmas Eve and no Great Western Railway trains will run on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

From Friday 27 to Sunday 29 December, GWR and Heathrow Express will not be able to run services into or out of London Paddington station.

Customers will still be able to get to where they need to go, with alternative routes available in and around the station. However, some journeys may take longer than normal.

If you’re planning on travelling into or out of London over the Christmas period, the following advice is in place:

Travelling between London and Reading or the Thames Valley

Customers can use GWR/Elizabeth Line trains between Ealing Broadway and Reading for onward connections. Journeys will take around half an hour longer than the normal GWR service

Travelling between London and Oxford, North Cotswolds or Worcestershire

Customers can use Chiltern Railways trains between London Marylebone and Oxford for onward connections.

Travelling between London and Bristol Parkway, South Wales, Devon and Cornwall

Customers can use special trains directly to/from London Euston, alternatively, travel via Ealing Broadway and Reading on GWR/Elizabeth Line services with onward connections.

For full details of your journey visit GWR.com/Check

Trains via Westbury/Warminster will also be impacted by engineering work from Friday 27 December to Thursday 23 January.

Night Riviera Sleeper

Night Riviera Sleeper services will not run on Saturday 21 December and pause until services restart in the New Year on Friday 3 January.

For more information visit our Night Riviera Sleeper webpage.

 

Passenger Assist

We recommend customers that require assisted travel over these dates, should book their assistance in advance.

Some services may be busy, so arrive at the station at least 20 minutes before your train is due to leave and please be patient at stations where staff are assisting passengers.

To book assistance, you can either fill in the booking form on gwr.com/passengerassist, or via the Passenger Assist app (by Transreport), by calling 0800 197 1329 or text relay on 18001 0800 197 1329.