Rail, road, flight and ferry travel to be disrupted as New Year approaches

Britain’s public transport system is coming back to life after a spell Closed on Christmas Day – but only slowly and partially. So what’s the outlook for travelers with or without cars? These are key opportunities and issues.

rail

Travel volumes surged on Saturday 27 December as intercity services resumed. But some serious problems are disrupting trains, including:

Elsewhere, train breakdowns and delayed train crews are causing further chaos. There are still issues with off-road service. The network connects England, Wales and Scotland via a hub in Birmingham New Street. Some trains have been canceled or reduced due to a shortage of train drivers.

widely network rail Engineering work is ongoing. Some major stations and lines will be closed, putting pressure on other lines.

There will be no trains to and from London’s Liverpool Street station, the UK’s busiest station, until January 2. The exception is Elizabeth Linewhich will allow travelers to reach Stratford Station – where many lines, including the Stansted Express, will start and end.

One of the UK’s other busiest stations, Waterloo, London, will be closed from the end of Christmas Eve services until Sunday 28 December Inclusiveness.

Key sections of the West Coast Main Line, which connects London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, north Wales and southern Scotland, will be closed from Milton Keynes and Rugby on and off January 4. A key junction in Hanslop, south of Rugby, is being replaced. Rail replacement bus services will operate. There will also be pressure on the Chiltern Railway from London Marylebone to Birmingham, the East Coast Main Line from London’s King’s Cross station north and the East Midlands Line from London St Pancras.

Further north, the West Coast Main Line between Preston and Carlisle will be closed from New Year’s Eve until January 15. The shuttle service will connect the two cities via the scenic Settle and Carlisle Railway.

There will be no trains running on the main line between Leeds and York until it opens on 3 January.

New Year’s Eve will be quiet and there will still be fewer passengers on New Year’s Day – although in Scotland there will be almost no trains running on January 1st.

Crowds will gather again on Friday 2 January, with the final weekend of the festive season on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 January seeing a huge influx of travelers, many of whom have been diverted to other lines due to Network Rail works.

road

The AA predicts that there will be three peak days before the large-scale resumption of work on January 5, 2026: December 27, 29 and 30.

New Year’s Day will be the quietest day for holiday travel.

The main locations of congestion are:

Additionally, the M27 in Hampshire will be closed between junctions 9 and 11 until 4am on January 4.

ferry

Flights to and from the port of Dover have resumed following the Christmas closure, but delays were reported while the French border was being cleared before boarding the ferry. Late on the morning of December 27, P&O Ferries warned: “Customers are advised that there are currently heavy queues in the buffer zone. Please allow extra journey time.”

The port urges drivers not to arrive more than two hours before scheduled departure time. Unlike air, there is no penalty for missing your ferry due to congestion at Dover; you can simply rebook for free. “If you miss your ferry, don’t worry,” the port told motorists. “You will be placed on the next available flight.”

In western Scotland, ferries between Mallaig and Armadale on the southern Isle of Skye were canceled throughout the day. Caledonian MacBrayne blames ‘technical issues with MV’ Loch Nieves Praxis system affects bow thruster operation”. The remainder of the CalMac network is operating largely as planned. No Caledonian MacBrayne vessels will operate on New Year’s Day.

Air

Major problems arose on flights to and from New York on Saturday, December 27, with extreme winter weather causing delays and cancellations.

Hundreds of flights were grounded on Friday and Saturday nights, including those between New York’s JFK and London’s Heathrow.

Under the Air Passenger Rights Rules, passengers with a canceled British Airways flight are entitled to fly to their destination as soon as possible on any airline and receive meals and hotel before arrival. Those holding American Airlines tickets and trying to return from New York have no such protection.

Aviation analysts at Cirium report that 42,046 flights are expected to depart from UK airports during the 17-day festive period from December 19 to January 4, with a total of 7.8 million seats. On average, there are more than 100 departures per hour and the number of seats is nearly 20,000.

Compared with the 2024 holiday period, the number of departure flights increased by 2%, and the number of available departure seats increased by 4% year-on-year.

London heathrow airport The largest number of flights, with one in five departing from the UK’s busiest hub. Birmingham and Manchester Airports are expected to have their busiest festive season yet.

Some specific peaks are caused by independent yes:

The top destinations at many airports are:

This article is always updated with the latest information.

Read more: Rail passengers demand £10,000 compensation after train was delayed for 18 minutes