PASSENGERS who are planning to travel home on the train from Cardiff Central for Christmas are being advised to travel earlier by railway bosses. 

Due to planned engineering works, no trains will be servicing the line between London Paddington and Reading on either Christmas Eve - Sunday, December 24 - or Wednesday, December 27.

Network Rail is set to begin work on the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common.

Services are not scheduled to operate on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. 

These services usually pass through Cardiff Central, which means that people who usually use this service are advised to travel on an earlier train.

Cardiff to Portsmouth Harbour trains will also divert via Eastleigh (avoiding Southampton Central) before resuming their normal route from Fareham.

Anyone travelling to Southampton Central will need to change at Eastleigh for a replacement bus. 

Tickets for trains travelling towards Devon and Cornwall on Friday, December 22 and Saturday, December 23 are already almost sold out. 

The following changes are being made to the London Paddington services while the work is ongoing:

  • Most GWR services start or terminate at Reading instead of London Paddington;
  • Limited GWR and Elizabeth line train services will run between Reading and Ealing Broadway;
  • Connecting Underground services will run from Ealing Broadway into central London;
  • Customers travelling to or from central London can do so using London Underground’s District or Central line services at Ealing Broadway, as the Elizabeth line will not be in operation between Ealing Broadway and London Paddington;
  • South Western Railway will accept GWR tickets on these days between Reading and London Waterloo, as will Chiltern Railways between Oxford and London Marylebone. 

Passengers are also advised that no Heathrow Express services will run during this time. Customers travelling to Heathrow Airport from central London should use the Piccadilly line instead. 

Operators have said anyone who needs to travel on Sunday, December 24, or Wednesday, December 27, should allow plenty of time to reach their destination as journey times will be significantly longer than normal.

Great Western Railway say services will also finish earlier than usual on Sunday December, 24 and all journeys will need to be completed by approximately 10.30pm. 

People who do need to travel on these dates are advised to travel before 9.30am. 

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