Christmas 2023 at Paddington - no trains on 24, 25, 26, 27 December

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) ...

We’re getting in touch to remind you of upcoming closures of the railway to London Paddington, as part of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))’s ongoing construction of new station at Old Oak Common, just to the west of London Paddington.
 
As a result there will be no train services into or out of London Paddington this Sunday (26 November), or on Sunday 24 and Wednesday 27 December.
 
On these days, long-distance and most local GWR services will start/terminate at Reading instead of London Paddington. Limited GWR services and Elizabeth line services will run between Reading and Ealing Broadway. Customers can transfer at Ealing Broadway between national rail and London Underground services (Central and District lines) to/from central London.
 
On Sunday 26 November only, engineering work will also close the lines between Ealing Broadway and Slough until 1240. A limited replacement bus service will be in operation between these stations during this time.
 
Also, as usual, there will be no services across the GWR network on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
 
Our advice to customers is to travel on alternative days to ensure a smoother journey. For those that need to travel, we recommend allowing plenty of time to reach their destination, especially if they’re making onward connections.
 
Journey planners have been updated with details on all closures. We will be making customers aware through traditional and social media, on board and station announcements, as well as station posters.
 
More information is available at www.GWR.com/HS2 and www.HS2.org.uk. Any help you can give in sharing this with your networks will be very helpful.
 

[TaplowGreen]

......picturing Reading Station on Christmas Eve, a Sunday too!.....that won't be fun......although I guess people travelling on Saturday may ease it a bit.

[Noggin]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) they are doing the first lot of track slewing - if you're interested in the nitty gritty there's a great lecture at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozQFOU3p9R0

[Timmer]

......picturing Reading Station on Christmas Eve, a Sunday too!.....that won't be fun......although I guess people travelling on Saturday may ease it a bit.

I suspect Friday and Saturday will be the peak travel days pre Christmas, though you still can’t rule out Sunday being another busy travel day for many.

[Mark A]

Looking at the works at Old Oak Common over the next several years, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that the 2018 SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) arc for the Bristol to Waterloo services - developing them and ramping up to 5 a day - that would have been a good fit with passengers travel needs, at all times adding resilience as well as maintaining travel opportunities - but particularly valuable in countering the negative effect of disruption from these major works.

Mark

[NickB]

Genuine question with no agenda to be inferred…  why does GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) shut completely over Christmas whereas Chiltern Railways maintain a half-hourly service to Marylebone on Boxing Day?

Is there a reason for one operator deciding ‘none shall travel’ whereas another acknowledges that Boxing Day is quite a busy day for visiting relative, shopping, football etc?

[IndustryInsider]

Chiltern’s service was paid for (in whole or in part) by Bicester Village outlet centre IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly).  No reason in theory why Boxing Day trains can’t run on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), as long as the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) are prepared to pay for it. 

Elizabeth Line drivers have Boxing Day as part of their working contract - though the Old Oak Common closures might make anything west of Paddington awkward over the next few years.

[1st fan]

......picturing Reading Station on Christmas Eve, a Sunday too!.....that won't be fun......although I guess people travelling on Saturday may ease it a bit.

I suspect Friday and Saturday will be the peak travel days pre Christmas, though you still can’t rule out Sunday being another busy travel day for many.

Those of us who work weekends and are travelling to see family for Christmas will likely be travelling on Sunday 24th and the 26th. Although in my case it will be via Chiltern on the 24th and car then Oxford Tube on the 26th.

[TaplowGreen]

Chiltern’s service was paid for (in whole or in part) by Bicester Village outlet centre IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly).  No reason in theory why Boxing Day trains can’t run on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), as long as the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) are prepared to pay for it. 

Based on the annual discussion/debate around this subject I thought the reasoning for not having Boxing day services was generally because;

1) Staff don't want to work at Christmas
2) The small number that would work would mean that the few services that could run would be overwhelmed.
3) The two day closedown is a good opportunity to undertake large scale engineering work?

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, you would have to address all of those issues, but Chiltern (and others) do manage to address them.  I think an Elizabeth Line service would be the easiest way to start things off as it only has one of those three issues outstanding.