After 18 months of closure, the Kentish City Tube station is because of be up and working on 23 December.

Whereas Thameslink providers have been calling on the railway station, passengers haven’t been in a position to change for the London Underground there since its closure in June 2023.

Main upgrades have been carried out to the station, such because the substitute of the station’s 26-year-old escalators and changing the ticket corridor’s flooring and ceiling.

The station gained’t be open for lengthy, nevertheless, as London’s public transport closes for Christmas Day.

There will likely be no service on the vast majority of public transport in London on Christmas Day and no providers on some elements of the community on Boxing Day, together with the Elizabeth line.

Community Rail is utilizing the festive interval to hold out a collection of enhancements and enhancements to the railways, nevertheless, it will influence prepare providers over Christmas.

No providers will name at London Paddington between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 December inclusive. Some long-distance providers will as a substitute be diverted to/from London Euston, with the vast majority of trains beginning/stopping at Studying and Ealing Broadway.

Those that are aiming for central London can change at Ealing Broadway and take a London Underground service into the town, utilizing both the District or Central strains.

Companies that run via Westbury may also be impacted. From Friday 27 December to Thursday 23 January inclusive, the railway via Westbury, in addition to between Westbury and Salisbury, Wiltshire will likely be closed and trains will likely be diverted or changed by buses.

From Monday 23 December 2024 till Monday 6 January 2025, prepare providers will likely be revised whereas Community Rail carries out engineering works to the railway at Brookwood, between Farnborough and Woking.

A collection of upgrades to the railways are being put in place, akin to including new observe panels, upgrading observe circuits and putting in new switches, in addition to finishing up work to strengthen the embankments.

In consequence, South Western Railway providers will likely be altered or diverted and a few journeys will likely be considerably longer.

Rail substitute buses will likely be in place for varied routes together with Farnborough to Woking and journeys between London Waterloo and Southampton Central, Poole and Weymouth will likely be diverted through Guildford, taking roughly 45 minutes longer.

There will likely be no direct providers between London Waterloo, Salisbury and Exeter St Davids. Companies from Ascot to Aldershot will likely be modified to run earlier between Camberley and Aldershot between Monday 16 December and Saturday 21 December.

Companies between London Waterloo and Alton, Guildford and Farnham, and London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour through Basingstoke may also be affected.

Trains will begin to go dwelling to their depots for Christmas from late afternoon on 24 December onwards, with providers on most routes shutting down early. Final direct trains on key intercity routes on Christmas Eve are as follows:

• London King’s Cross-Edinburgh: 5.30pm/Edinburgh-London King’s Cross: 4.13pm
• London Euston-Manchester Piccadilly: 5.55pm/Manchester Piccadilly-London Euston: 6.13pm
• London Paddington-Cardiff Central: 7.48pm/Cardiff Central-London Paddington: 8.18pm
• London Victoria-Gatwick Airport: 8.45pm/Gatwick Airport-London Victoria: 7.32pm
• Bristol Temple Meads-Leeds: 4.35pm/Leeds-Bristol Temple Meads: 4.11pm
• Glasgow Queen Road-Aberdeen: 6.41pm/Aberdeen-Glasgow Queen Road: 6.36pm

All Caledonian Sleeper providers are cancelled till 27 December.

On Christmas Day, no passenger trains will run on any UK rail line.

On Boxing Day, nearly all UK routes could have no rail service. Uncommon exceptions embrace:

• London Victoria-Gatwick Airport-Brighton: hourly providers from 8.30am to eight.30pm.
• Tottenham Hale-Stansted Airport: half-hourly providers from 6.45am to 11.15pm. Tottenham Hale is on the Victoria Line of the London Underground, which will likely be working.
• Merseyrail (native community round Liverpool): 9am-6pm, not all strains/stations. “Further providers will likely be out there between Liverpool and Aintree to assist these attending the Boxing Day races,” the prepare operator says.

Eurostar will run a full service from London St Pancras Worldwide to Paris (15 trains every approach) and Brussels (eight trains every approach).

As Christmas falls mid-week this yr, the RAC predicts there will likely be an prolonged interval of “pre-Christmas panic” on the roads.

Friday 20 December is ready to be the busiest day of the winter on motorways and trunk roads in keeping with rival motoring organisation the AA, which predicts a report 23.7 million automobile journeys. The AA warns Saturday 21 and Monday 23 December may also be extraordinarily busy, with 22.7 million on every day. The RAC, in the meantime, predicts 1-6pm on Saturday and 10am-4pm on Monday would be the busiest instances.

The AA has issued amber warnings for 20, 21 and 23 December, “because of the quantity of congestion predicted”.

Whereas most of these journeys are anticipated to be underneath 50 miles, The Unbiased has analysed AA figures to calculate that one in seven motorists plans to drive greater than 100 miles on “frantic Friday”.

The AA predicts the heaviest site visitors on Friday 20 December to be on these roads:

• M25 western part, significantly between the M3 and M4 interchanges, together with Heathrow Airport; The RAC warns of congestion on the stretch all the way in which from the M1 to the M23 (Gatwick and Brighton).
• M4 heading west from London in the direction of Bristol, in addition to round Newport and Cardiff.
• A34 between Newbury and Oxford.
• M27 in Hampshire from Southampton to Portsmouth.
• M6 within the West Midlands between junction 4 (M42) and junction 11 (Wolverhampton), particularly on the M5 interchange.
• A38 in Somerset, with specific strain round Bristol airport.

As well as, the RAC warns the M53 from Chester to Liverpool will likely be significantly laborious hit on Friday through the night rush hour.

As of 10.50am Friday morning, there are three of 4 lanes closed on the M25 clockwise between J2 and J3 close to Swanley attributable to an accident, inflicting congestion on the street.

On the M5 southbound between J30 close to Exeter / Topsham and J31 close to Matford / Exminster lanes have additionally been closed attributable to a car hearth.

There may be additionally a lane closure on the M62 J33 eastbound close to Pontefract and Knottingley attributable to a broken-down car.

Congestion can also be hitting different areas of the community, akin to M42 northbound between J6 close to Birmingham Airport.

Yellow wind warnings have been put in place on Saturday and Sunday, overlaying a lot of the UK as rain and disruptive winds are set to hit the nation over the weekend.

The Met Workplace says that individuals can anticipate some delays to public transport, in addition to disruption to journey by street.

On Saturday, a small probability of great delays and even cancellations to providers together with ferry and air, while some roads, bridges and causeways could also be closed.

On Sunday, some delays to street, rail, air and ferry transport are seemingly.

The climate specialists have suggested these travelling to offer themselves one of the best probability of avoiding delays by checking street circumstances if driving, or bus timetables and amending journey plans if vital.

Met Workplace Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Rebekah Hicks, stated: “This era of disruptive climate coincides with a busy interval on UK roads because the festive getaway begins for a lot of.

“The realm of low strain will carry rain and robust winds on Saturday, with an opportunity of great disruption particularly to move networks throughout the north, together with the potential for ferry cancellations.

“The strongest winds are anticipated throughout northern Scotland on Saturday afternoon and night, with the potential for gusts of 80 to 85 mph in coastal districts.

“The robust winds will likely be extra widespread on Sunday with gusts of 50-60 mph throughout a lot of northern, central and western UK, domestically increased for coasts and throughout excessive floor.”

In the present day, Friday December 20 is anticipated to see essentially the most automobiles on the street, with an estimated 23.7 million drivers planning a visit.

As of 10am, there are lane closures on M3 westbound inside J2, M40 northbound between J8A and J9, M62 J36 westbound exist, M62 J21 westbound exit and M65 eastbound inside J3.

There may be additionally a tough shoulder closed on M6 southbound between J7 and J6.

Accidents, damaged down automobiles, car recovers and lane administration are among the many causes of lane closures.

Looking forward to New 12 months’s Eve, Rail strikes are again with a vengeance. Passengers on Avanti West Coast face months of disruption, beginning on 31 December and persevering with till the late Might financial institution vacation weekend.

Prepare managers working for the West Coast principal line operator and who belong to the RMT union will stroll out on New 12 months’s Eve, Thursday 2 January after which each Sunday between 12 January and 25 Might.

The plan is to strike on a complete of 21 days, disrupting the plans of as much as 100,000 passengers for every of the chosen dates.

The community covers round 700 miles of observe. It centres on the West Coast principal line to and from London Euston.

The primary cities served are:

• Birmingham
• Manchester
• Liverpool
• Glasgow

Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent, Preston, Carlisle and Edinburgh are among the many different cities on the community.

As well as, Avanti West Coast runs alongside the North Wales coast, connecting Crewe with the port of Holyhead. The dispute is about funds to coach managers for engaged on their relaxation days.

Prepare managers have been supplied round £250 for every eight-hour shift labored on a relaxation day, or £300 at weekends. The union says Avanti senior managers working as stand-in prepare managers earn upwards of £300. Prepare drivers employed by Avanti earn a flat £600 for engaged on a time off.

Mick Lynch, normal secretary of the RMT, stated: “Our members have had sufficient, and this strike motion demonstrates their dedication to win a good deal.

“It’s time for Avanti to place ahead severe proposals that mirror the important contribution of our prepare managers to the railway.”

Avanti West Coast says: “This strike motion will trigger vital disruption to our clients making journeys on the West Coast Major Line over an prolonged interval.

“We’re disenchanted our prepare managers who’re RMT members have voted to say no the very cheap, revised provide made to them to resolve the remainder day working dispute and keep away from inconveniencing our clients.

“We stay open to working with the RMT to resolve the dispute.”

Friday 20 December is projected to be the busiest day total this season for UK flight departures, with 2,807 departures alone – equating to over 500,000 departing seats, in keeping with the aviation knowledge service Cirium.

The preferred worldwide locations for UK departures are Amsterdam, Dublin, Geneva, Paris CDG and Tenerife South. To Amsterdam there will likely be greater than 100 flights a day on common between 20 December and a pair of January.

Heathrow airport is scheduled to see the biggest variety of departures over the festive interval (8,741), adopted by Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted and Edinburgh.