Passengers urged to plan ahead and travel early as Paddington closes for six days Plan ahead and travel early is the clear message from Great Western Railway today as the train operator reminds passengers that rail services will not operate from London Paddington after Friday 23 December.
No train services will be able to operate from Christmas Eve up to and including Thursday 29 December between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway. Passengers will be able to change at Ealing Broadway for London Underground services.
As there is no step-free access at Ealing Broadway,
GWR▸ tickets will also be valid via the following London stations:
· Euston; To and from the Hereford area (change at Birmingham New Street)
· Marylebone; To and from the Oxford area (change at Oxford)
· Waterloo; To and from Bristol, South Wales, the South West and Basingstoke (change at Reading)
GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said: "These improvement works will ultimately increase capacity and connectivity in London and the Thames Valley, and on the wider Great Western network. New trains are already in operation on some GWR routes and more are on their way during the course of 2017 and 2018 – delivering more seats and more frequent services.
“We have worked closely with our colleagues at Network Rail to keep disruption to a minimum; however, we urge customers to travel early and to note that we will not be able to run trains between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway for four days from and including Christmas Eve. We strongly advise customers with luggage, children or who require assisted travel, to use either London Marylebone, Euston or Waterloo.”
Network Rail’s orange army will be out in force over the Christmas period to carry out upgrade work which is necessary as part of the Crossrail project. Work will take place between Old Oak Common, Stockley, Hayes, Acton and Maidenhead.
The upgrade means there will be no train services in or out of Paddington main line station from December 24 to 29, with a reduced timetable between December 30 and January 2. From Tuesday 27 to Wednesday 28 December and again on Sunday 1 to Monday 2 January buses will replace trains between Newport, Cardiff and Bridgend.
The work in London and the Thames Valley is one of up to 200 projects being delivered across the
UK▸ rail network as £103million is being invested into the railway, making it the biggest ever festive upgrade.
Managing Director for network operations at Network Rail, Phil Hufton, said: “Work takes place all year round as part of our railway upgrade plan, but we tend to carry out larger upgrades over bank holidays as this is when passenger numbers are at their lowest. This Christmas will see significant investment in our railway with thousands of Network Rail’s orange army working hard to deliver hundreds of crucial projects to improve Britain’s railways. This will mean changes to services over the festive period, so we strongly advise passengers to plan their journeys as early as possible.
“Despite our essential upgrades the vast majority of the rail network, over 95%, remains unaffected and will be open for business as usual. This vital investment will make the railway more reliable for years to come, while improving journeys for thousands of passengers. There’s never a good time to impact on journeys and I’d like to thank passengers in advance for their patience.”
Crossrail Programme Director at Network Rail, Matthew Steele, said: “Successful completion of these Christmas works is not only vital to delivering the Crossrail project, but is an integral part of our Railway Upgrade Plan as we continue to enhance the capacity and reliability of our railway, and enable the introduction of new rolling stock in 2017 that has more seats and offers quieter, more reliable journeys.”
For more information please visit:
https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/christmas-travel 
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