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Rail lines to shut for at least four days at Christmas
Dick Murray, Transport Editor17 Nov 2008
LONDON travellers face extensive shutdowns over Christmas, it was revealed today.
Large sections of the Tube and National Rail network are to be shut for four days over Christmas. Some London commuter lines will be closed for up to 11 days. The entire Jubilee line will be closed for the same four days, from 25 to 28 December.
Rail and Tube bosses said the lines had to be shut for "essential" engineering works. Both networks will be closed completely on Christmas Day, a Thursday. On Boxing Day there will only be a few trains running on the mainline network with a very reduced service on London Underground.
The West Coast Main Line will be closed for the four days south of Coventry. No Virgin Trains services will run to and from Euston via Milton Keynes to allow for resignalling work in the Milton Keynes area. Virgin Trains will be redirected on a journey from Euston via west London and the Chilterns to Birmingham, with journeys taking an hour more.
NR is racing to finish the £9.2billion upgrade in time for Virgin's new timetable to come into force on 14 December. A Virgin Trains spokesman said: "The work has to be done but there is never a good time to close the railways."
Part of Liverpool Street station will be closed on the Saturday and Sunday meaning National Express services to and from East Anglia will start and finish at Ilford.
Liverpool Street services on the Cambridge line, including Stansted Airport, and the Chingford, Hertford East and Enfield Town lines, will be open on the Saturday and Sunday.
The line between Clapham Junction and Barnes, served by South West Trains, will be closed for 11 days from Christmas Day to Sunday 4 January. The mainline rail section of Blackfriars station will be closed on 27 and 28 December. The London Overground line, run by Transport for London, will be closed between Stratford and Dalston Kingsland from 27 December to 1 January. The Gospel Oak to Barking line will close on 28 and 29 December.
An NR spokesman said: "We realise that closing these sections of the railways will mean disruption. We have chosen this time because travel is far lighter than at other times of the year."
There will be no service on the Metropolitan line between Aldgate and Northwood and Uxbridge on 27 and 28 December. Buses will replace trains.
MPs and rail watchdogs expressed fears of a repeat of last Christmas when work over-ran. NR was fined a record £14million for the disruption.
Theresa Villiers, shadow transport secretary, said: "We will be keeping a watchful eye on NR." Jo de Bank, of London TravelWatch, said: "It is essential the chaos seen last year is not repeated." ."
Reader views (30)
"My train has been delayed every single day for the last 8 weeks without fail so any hope of there being any service is a miracle!"
That sounds like perfect reliability, but dubious timetabling. Live with it.
- Martin, Teddington, 18/11/2008 10:03
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Regarding overall passenger numbers through the year, the Christmas week is actually the quietest time.
This makes it the most sensible time to shut the railway for any 'major' works.
This story replays every year, with little discussion given to what is taking place.
I would hate to think that engineers were being placed under pressure to complete work prematurely, just because the bloody office workers were whining again.
- James, London,UK, 18/11/2008 02:05
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Well that makes a change. I have long given up going out at the weekend because London underground insist shutting down half the underground,i have given up trying to get to work on time because southern trains have the wrong type of rain on the tracks,i will stay home at christmas because there is never a rail service at that period,but i will have a bloody good holiday this summer with the money i have saved, but it wont be in this country,my money wont be spent in the uk simply because this country does not deserve my money,if i cant spend at the weekend and christmas im certainly not gona spend it in the uk on my holidays. O i wonder why we have the worst recession in Europe.Maybe we deserve it.
- Kev, London, 17/11/2008 21:13
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This is because Network Rail is having to deal with the mess its predecessor Railtrack made when it took over a well maintained British Rail network. A similar story applies to the ungerground where governments of both parties failed to invest in the underground.
Anyone who has seen the \london series will have seen the amount of work that TFL is undertaking to modernise the underground with last weeks programme showing the work to deliver the new northern ticket hall at Kings Cross.
The real gripe is why rail companies are allowed such bad old buses which still have step entrances. I would have thought more use could be made of the Red Arrow Artics which are available at weekends. Boris please note!!
As for the WCML this work is due to be completed this year and so this line should return to a 7 day railway. However with Crossrail starting the GWR and GER will be affected by increasing engineering work, together with Thameslink which is just starting.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 17/11/2008 19:20
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The general public are un-awares of how difficult some the nature of the works are that need to take place.
What is often not realised is that each night in some locations.....a maximum of 1 hour is available to undertake works that are REALLY challenging, and the environment in which some of the works takes place (particularly tunnel sections) is sometimes very complicated. It's not a lego set afterall! Safety cannot be compromised at any cost.
- Brian, London, 17/11/2008 18:59
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They wouldn't dare do this over Diwali or Eid.
- John, London UK, 17/11/2008 18:40
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The rest of Europe laugh at us. Right there John! and all those drink drivers etc etc, maybe it's done to stimulate sales of GM cars ?
- On My Bike, geneva, 17/11/2008 17:55
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Matt, the big problem is that most of the proper, experienced Rail people left years ago, now lots of managers, project managers and they have forgotten that they are not providing customers with a simple product, but actually providing 'passengers' with a 'transport service' !
- Johnw, Peterborough, Cambs, 17/11/2008 17:36
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If they realise that its going to be disruption at the busiest time of the year, why still go ahead with it.
Idiots!
If it the engineering works is so essential, why wait till Christmas?! There is around a month till Christmas!
Disaster waiting to happen, I say! Then there will be public apologies. Then they will raise train faces in January! Lots of look forward to for train commuters!
- Elly, London, 17/11/2008 16:54
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My train has been delayed every single day for the last 8 weeks without fail so any hope of there being any service is a miracle!
- Anon 3, London, 17/11/2008 16:23
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More of the same from our hopeless transport system. I am having to work over the Christmas period and so are many other people. Last Sunday nearly 60% of the Tube system was was closed or disrupted for "engineering work". TfL now think they can close down lines and remove trains from service at a whim! They really don't seem to care. Why do we put up with this is beyond me! The rest of Europe laugh at us.
- John David, London, 17/11/2008 16:01
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They have to do the works at some point in time - let it be the supposedly quiet time of year!
- 2nd Anon, LONDON, 17/11/2008 15:31
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Pop to down to the local bookies and see what odds they're giving on Liverpool Street being open after the holiday. Come to think of it, if your route is affected anywhere in the country, put a bet on anyway. The odds are better than winning any lottery. Given the incompetence and ineptitude of NR, it's a sure-fire bet.
- Joannie, London, England, 17/11/2008 15:05
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"any gratitude towards the rail staff who are working over their holidays?" - C Davies
Why on earth would we show gratitude for doing the job they are paid for? Perhaps the overtime they're being paid for running the minimal service on Boxing Day isn't sufficient?
- Bob, Cheam, 17/11/2008 15:05
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You can tell all the smug g*ts who have got Xmas and New Year off. Sadly, some of us have to work the holiday season, and I suggest that Boris makes parking meters free over the period for the less fortunate.
- Paul, London, 17/11/2008 14:47
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The trouble is the extremely poor communication about the closure unless you have an internet connection.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford England, 17/11/2008 14:37
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Blimey, Yvonne, can you read? which part of 'engineering works' did you miss? More to the point is to question whether they would stay open as in Germany were there no engineering works!
- Peter Bench, London, 17/11/2008 13:52
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re: Clapham Junction - Barnes
This is the 'Hounslow Loop' - a really busy commuter line!
11 days = 3% of the year.
No mention of this when I bought my season!
Can I get 3% of my rail ticket?
- Anon, London, 17/11/2008 13:40
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any gratitude towards the rail staff who are working over their holidays?
- C Davies, sw15, 17/11/2008 13:40
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Hughie - So no problem then for the people who live at Canary Wharf try to get anywhere else. The recent works have often meant that both the DLR and Jubilee lines have been down making it almost impossible to get to and from the Wharf. Many retail businesses have really suffered. It's not all banks here you know.
- Big Andy, London, 17/11/2008 13:25
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The West Coast Line is a basketcase. It is years since it has functioned to a useable standard over the weekends.
- Carl, London, 17/11/2008 13:13
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We invented the railways yet we have the worst run, most chaotic, expensive and old fashioned railway service in Europe. Most of our inter-city trains are clapped out ex-BR rolling stock from the 1970s and the network is under such strain that "emergency work" is now being completed virtually every public holiday and Sunday. Nowhere is Labour's total failure to improve public services despite the enormous sums of money spent more evident.
- Matt, London, 17/11/2008 13:09
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Of course if you have a season ticket you will not be offered a refund for the missing days, so that is profit straight in the pocket of the railway bosses and is likly to ensure that work is not completed early.
Of course whilst railways are green, during this time, if visiting family and friends those journies are likly to be completed by car - so no petrol decreases lily until the new year, despite oil per barrel price now being equivelent to 86p / litre for diesel.
Happy Christmas
- Yuel Tide, London, England, 17/11/2008 13:06
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Hughie - all very well for the pinstripes that barge in at Waterloo in the morning to make the short journey to Canary Wharf - what about the poor suckers that use the rest of the line? Eg those up in North-West London? The tube isn't just there for the benefit of the nine-to-fivers.
- Brian, Birmingham, 17/11/2008 12:50
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This is shocking news.
Just as people are learning how to keep active through the silly season.
- Geoff, Lara, Australia, 17/11/2008 12:47
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You'd think the country was in fine enough shape for workers to take the period between Xmas and New Year off as holiday, as most have done in the past. I don't think companies (or services for that matter) can afford to shut down completely, so why do transport execs think it's okay for them to close down the public transport network almost completely?
- Yvonne, Doncaster, UK, 17/11/2008 12:31
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Although painful, we should all be pleased the railways are still seen the way they should, as important to travellers and the economy. I hope the project managers have not been bullied to complete the works in impossible timescales, and that time/budget/quality is well balanced. We shall see....let's not moan and take the time off instead! It's an excuse not to travel, have time with family and friends, and forget about work for a few days.
- Rod, Epping, UK, 17/11/2008 12:22
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...which means they will be shut for about 10 in reality.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 17/11/2008 11:41
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Sounds like a 'normal service' to me.
- Eddie, London, 17/11/2008 10:55
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This seems entirely reasonable - Jubilee Line is a lifeline for everyone using Canary Wharf, so it's critical it's functioning properly when most needed - which is not over the Christmas period.
- Hughie, Surrey, UK, 17/11/2008 10:31
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