No trains on 25 or 26 December, early finishes on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and Avanti cutting 22 daily trains from 7 December. What is published.
If you are travelling from Warrington Bank Quay or Warrington Central between Christmas Eve and New Year, this is what the railway has published so far, and what it has not. There are no trains at all on Friday 25 or Saturday 26 December. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve finish early. National Rail’s day-by-day guide, including the last trains on Christmas Eve, is promised for late November or early December, and this page will be updated when it lands.
The quick answer
- Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December: trains finish earlier than normal on many routes, and Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express have both said theirs will. Last-train times are not yet published.
- Christmas Day and Boxing Day: no National Rail services on 25 December; on 26 December “most train operators will have no service”. Warrington’s Own Buses ran no buses on either day last year.
- Sunday 27 December to Monday 4 January: trains start later on 27 December; the Boxing Day bank holiday falls on Monday 28 December and its train service is “to be confirmed”. Birmingham New Street has major engineering work from 24 to 28 December inclusive, which hits Avanti’s Birmingham route from Bank Quay.
- Before Christmas: Avanti is removing 22 trains a day on its Liverpool, Birmingham and Crewe routes from Monday to Thursday, 7 to 23 December, and again from 4 to 7 January.
Sources are National Rail’s Christmas and New Year 2026/27 travel summary, TransPennine Express’s planned engineering work page, an Avanti West Coast stakeholder note on its winter timetable published by Colmore Business District, and Warrington’s Own Buses’ Christmas and New Year service levels page. All checked on 25 September 2026.
Day by day: what National Rail has said
National Rail’s festive summary covers Thursday 24 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027. Its advice is to “check, and continue to re-check your entire journey before you travel”, and its day-by-day notes are these:
| Date | What National Rail says |
|---|---|
| Thu 24 December | Services "on many routes will finish earlier than normal". A guide to last trains will be published in late November or early December. |
| Fri 25 December | No National Rail services. |
| Sat 26 December | Most operators have no service; a "very limited" service by a small number of operators, details to be confirmed. |
| Mon 28 December | Substitute Boxing Day bank holiday. Train services "to be confirmed". |
| Thu 31 December | Services on some routes finish earlier than normal. |
| Fri 1 January | Extra late services after midnight are London-only. Elsewhere, a later start. |
The one piece of engineering work National Rail has named is Birmingham New Street, closed to major work from Thursday 24 to Monday 28 December inclusive, with journeys “to, from or through” the station “significantly disrupted”. That is the Avanti route from Bank Quay to Birmingham and the south via the West Midlands. Full details of the rest of Network Rail’s Christmas programme “will be published here when available”.
Bank Quay: Avanti West Coast
Warrington Bank Quay is on the West Coast Main Line, served by Avanti West Coast to London Euston, Glasgow and Birmingham, and by its Liverpool route. Avanti’s own winter plan, set out in a stakeholder note in September, has three parts:
- Timetable change on Sunday 13 December. Euston departures are being re-spaced to improve punctuality on the Manchester, Liverpool and North Wales routes; the xx43 Euston to Liverpool trains move to xx41 and run to the current times from Crewe onwards.
- 22 trains removed daily, Monday to Thursday, from 7 to 23 December and 4 to 7 January. The cuts are on the Liverpool, Birmingham and Crewe routes. Avanti says Fridays to Sundays, “when demand for festive travel is higher, will not be impacted”.
- Birmingham New Street engineering, 24 to 28 December. “Detailed service plans for this period are currently being finalised.”
Last year’s pattern is a fair guide to the rest. In its December 2025 advice Avanti said services would “finish earlier on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and start later on 27 December and New Year’s Day”, and it removed peak fare restrictions from 19 December to 4 January (Avanti West Coast, December 2025). That year’s West Coast Main Line closures were between Rugby and Milton Keynes and north of Preston, not at Warrington. Whether 2026 brings closures near Warrington is exactly what Avanti has not yet said.
Avanti’s live list is its planned engineering work page. Our Warrington train times to London page has the normal timetable.
Warrington Central: Northern and TransPennine Express
Warrington Central, on the Liverpool to Manchester line, is served by Northern and TransPennine Express (TPE).
TPE has published the most. On its engineering page it says there will be no trains on 25 or 26 December, that services “will finish earlier than usual on Thursday 24 December and start later than usual on Sunday 27 December”, and that Christmas Eve services “may also be amended to terminate earlier than usual”. Before that, TPE has a full weekend closure between Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool Lime Street and Warrington Central on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November, with no TPE trains between Liverpool Lime Street and Warrington Central on Sunday 8 November and rail replacement buses in both directions. It has no TPE trains between Manchester Airport and Piccadilly on Sunday 6 December.
Northern had not published a Christmas 2026 page when we checked; its previous festive page has been taken down. Last year it replaced the 00:20 Warrington Central to Liverpool Lime Street train with a bus over the festive period. We will add its 2026 arrangements when they appear.
Buses: Warrington’s Own Buses
Warrington’s Own Buses has not yet posted its 2026/27 festive timetable. Its Christmas page still shows the 2025/26 arrangements, and they are the best guide to what to expect:
| Dates (2025/26) | Service |
|---|---|
| Mon 22 to Wed 24 December | Normal service, buses running until around 7.30pm on Christmas Eve |
| Christmas Day and Boxing Day | No service |
| Sat 27 and Sun 28 December | Weekend service |
| Mon 29 to Wed 31 December | Amended Saturday service, buses running until around 7.30pm on New Year's Eve |
| New Year's Day | No service |
| Fri 2 January | Amended Saturday service |
| From Sat 3 January | Normal service |
The two things to carry over are that there were no buses on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, and that the last buses on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve went at about 7.30pm. With 26 December on a Saturday this year and a substitute bank holiday on Monday 28 December, expect the no-service days to be 25 and 26 December and 1 January, and a Saturday-type timetable on the 28th, but that is a forecast until the operator publishes.
Parking and roads
Warrington Borough Council has not published any Christmas parking concession for 2026. Its normal charges, and the free evening and Sunday rules where they apply, are on our parking in Warrington page. The M6 Thelwall Viaduct contraflow and the current closures are on Warrington roadworks and travel.
Still to come, and when
- Late November or early December: National Rail’s last-trains guide for Christmas Eve, and the Boxing Day and 28 December service details.
- October to November: Avanti’s detailed plans for the New Street closure and any West Coast Main Line works near Warrington; Northern’s festive page.
- December: Warrington’s Own Buses’ 2026/27 festive timetable, and any council parking offer.
This page will be updated as each of those is published. For what is on in the town over the period, see New Year’s Eve in Warrington.
Sources: National Rail Christmas and New Year 2026/27; TransPennine Express planned engineering work; Avanti West Coast winter timetable note via Colmore Business District and Avanti’s December 2025 Christmas advice; Warrington’s Own Buses Christmas and New Year service levels. Checked 25 September 2026.
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