Travel disruption expected ahead of New Year, including Eurostar disruptions

Britain’s public transport system is 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

Eurostar operations to and from London St Pancras International Airport and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam via the Channel Tunnel were thrown into chaos “due to a LeShuttle train failure”. There were reports of passengers being trapped on trains in tunnels for hours. At least one train from London to Paris departed at 7.01am and was expected to arrive in the French capital four hours late.

All trains will be delayed on Tuesday 30 December, usually by two to three hours.

Cancellation conditions are as follows:

Eurostar told passengers: “We strongly advise all passengers to postpone their journeys to an alternative date. We regret that trains that are able to run will be severely delayed and canceled at the last minute.”

Car transport company LeShuttle between Folkestone and Calais has suspended all trains. Motorists were told: “Services at both terminals are temporarily suspended due to power supply issues. We are working to resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

Within the UK, most rail Services have been restored following the Christmas closure. But some problems are disrupting trains, especially cross-country services. The network connects England, Wales and Scotland via a hub in Birmingham New Street. Some trains have been canceled or reduced due to staff shortages.

Many trains are canceled, reduced or running with some carriages closed to passengers on Tuesday 30 December, including on lines between Cardiff and Nottingham, Manchester and Bournemouth and South West England and Scotland.

For example, the 6.03am train from Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh has nine carriages, but the first four carriages sit idle for much of the journey from York to the Scottish capital.

Elsewhere, the South Coast route between Brighton, Chichester and Portsmouth was closed due to “signaling staff illness”.

National Rail said: “Trains currently do not run between Barnum/Chichester and Portsmouth and Southampton. If you choose to travel this route then please expect your total journey time to be extended.”

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.

London’s Waterloo station, one of the UK’s other busiest stations, has reopened with reduced services after four days of engineering work.

Key sections of the West Coast Main Line, which connects London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, northern 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-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 before the large-scale resumption of work on January 5, 2026, the peak traffic period will be reached on December 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

Sailing between Dover, Calais and Dunkirk is normal. The port urges drivers not to arrive more than two hours before scheduled departure time. Pressure is likely to increase on December 30 as LeShuttle trains between Folkestone and Calais are suspended.

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.”

The Caledonian MacBrayne ferry in west Scotland is resuming after technical problems caused some cancellations.

CalMac vessels will not operate on New Year’s Day and some services on January 2 will be “request only.”

Air

Currently, there are major issues affecting travelers traveling to and from eastern North America. Extremely cold weather has grounded thousands of flights since Christmas. Domestic flights were the worst affected, but some flights between the United States, Canada and London Heathrow were canceled or severely delayed.

Air Canada warned that “snow, freezing rain and strong winds” were causing disruptions in the east of the country, particularly in its main hub of Toronto Pearson as well as Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax.

All overnight flights from Toronto to London Heathrow eventually took off, but most were delayed by an hour or more. Air Canada flights on this route are currently delayed by four hours. The return flight to Canada’s largest city, AC855, is expected to be delayed by two hours.

Many connecting flights to other North American airports have been cancelled.

Under the Air Passenger Rights Rules, passengers booked on British Airways whose flight was canceled are entitled to fly to their destination as quickly as possible on any airline and receive meals and hotel before arrival. There is no such protection for people returning from North America on U.S. and Canadian airline tickets.

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 has increased by 2%, and the number of available departure seats has 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.

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