Heathrow Loses Its Express Trains Over Christmas
Paddington closes to Heathrow trains on 28–29 November and again from 27 to 30 December, leaving the Piccadilly line as the only rail link. Birmingham and Doncaster also shut.
Clients flying out of Heathrow over Christmas, or on the last weekend of November, can’t count on the Heathrow Express or the Elizabeth line from Paddington. Network Rail is rebuilding Dolphin Junction near Slough, a £27.8 million job, and on the closure days the Piccadilly line will be the only rail service between central London and the airport.
Heathrow and Paddington
According to National Rail, here is how Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line are affected:
| Dates | What happens |
|---|---|
| Sat 28 – Sun 29 Nov | No trains between Maidenhead and Paddington. No Heathrow Express; no Elizabeth line to Heathrow. |
| Fri 25 Dec | No trains anywhere in Britain. |
| Sat 26 Dec | No Heathrow Express, Elizabeth line or GWR. |
| Sun 27 – Wed 30 Dec | No Heathrow Express. No Elizabeth line between Paddington and Reading, including Heathrow. Piccadilly line is the only rail link to the airport. |
| Thu 31 Dec – Sun 3 Jan | Heathrow Express back to normal. Elizabeth line returns to Heathrow, but trains west towards Reading are still affected. |
Great Western Railway trains won’t use Paddington on either closure. Bristol and South Wales services divert to and from London Euston, with longer journeys. Most other long-distance trains, including those from Devon and Cornwall, start and end at Reading. Over Christmas, National Rail says paper tickets and e-tickets are accepted on the Piccadilly line to and from Heathrow from 27 to 30 December. Contactless and Oyster users pay the normal fare.
Network Rail says more than 400 passenger trains a day use the junction.
Birmingham New Street: closed 24–28 December
No trains will call at or pass through Birmingham New Street from Christmas Eve to Monday 28 December. Network Rail is replacing overhead power lines, much of them from the 1960s, in a £13 million programme that returns at Christmas 2027 and 2028. London Euston services will start and end at Birmingham International, with buses every 20 minutes into the city. Trains resume on Tuesday 29 December.
Doncaster: no trains on Christmas Eve
On the East Coast Main Line, no trains will call at or pass through Doncaster on Thursday 24 December while track and junctions are renewed. LNER will run King’s Cross to Retford/Lincoln and York to Scotland, with coaches in between. Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo won’t run that day. Trains are due back through Doncaster on Sunday 27 December.
The rest of the holiday
National Rail says many routes finish early on Christmas Eve, and most operators run nothing on Boxing Day. The Boxing Day bank holiday falls on Monday 28 December this year. Last-train times are due in late November or early December.
Sources
- Network Rail, Dolphin Junction upgrade: £27.8m, closure dates
- National Rail, Dolphin Junction upgrade travel information
- National Rail, Paddington engineering work 28–29 Nov 2026
- National Rail, major engineering work London Paddington 26 Dec 2026–3 Jan 2027
- Network Rail, Birmingham New Street Christmas closure, 22 Sep 2026
- National Rail, Birmingham New Street Christmas 2026
- Network Rail, Doncaster Christmas works, 13 Oct 2026
- National Rail, Christmas and New Year 2026/27
Alicia Loveday is Managing Editor at Not An Atlas, writing from Calgary, Alberta, amid a little creative chaos: a laptop, an iced coffee and about a hundred ideas she hasn't had time to bring to life yet. She became a mom young and spent her twenties raising two kids, so she was 30 before she saw the ocean for the first time, in Aruba. Gliding through that clear Caribbean water on a Seabob felt like freedom, and she's been making up for lost time ever since. She always takes the window seat (she waited 30 years for the view), never travels without the feather pillow she's had since childhood (they're a package deal), and sizes up a new place with a local cocktail and some serious people-watching. She covers fashion, culture, creativity and the people who shape the places we visit. Friends say creative, fearless and unapologetic. Her mum says stubborn, and she'd be right. Next stop: Japan.
