A closer look at Christmas travel in the South

Timetable changes will affect travel across the south during the festive period, with most services on land and sea reduced on and around Christmas Day.

Train services across the network will end earlier than usual on Christmas Eve, and will not run on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

Major engineering work to tracks, switches and crossings, signalling systems, and electrical supplies, will take place between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction on both sets of lines between 27 December and 4 January.

Separate engineering work will take place between Basingstoke and Andover/Winchester on 4 January.

Due to late night engineering work on 23 December on the Bedwyn-Newbury-London Paddington route there will be changes to some services, including the use of earlier replacement buses.

Services on all routes will finish earlier than normal on Christmas Eve, generally winding down from 21:00. Trains will not run on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

On 27 December the 23:35 Reading to Gatwick Airport service will terminate at Redhill, with other train connections available between Redhill and Gatwick Airport.

On 28 December several trains will not call at Pangbourne due to early morning and late night engineering work. Replacement buses will run between Tilehurst and Pangbourne.

The 00:07 Marlow to Maidenhead service will terminate at Bourne End, with a replacement bus running from Bourne End to Cookham, Furze Platt and Maidenhead.

The 06:12 Gatwick Airport to Reading service will start from Redhill at 06:24, with earlier rail connections available between Gatwick Airport and Redhill. The 23:05 service will depart earlier at 23:00, with normal times from Redhill and beyond.

The 08:37 Reading to Basingstoke train will not run and will be replaced by an earlier bus at 08:07 from Reading to Reading Green Park, Mortimer, Bramley and Basingstoke.

There are early morning service changes through Newbury.

There are also very early morning service changes between London Paddington and Reading on 30 December, and the 00:18 Henley-on-Thames to Reading train will terminate at Twyford, with other connections available from Twyford to Reading.

Services on all routes will finish earlier than normal on New Year’s Eve, generally closing down from 22:30.

On 2 January the 23:37 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway service will use alternative platforms at Tilehurst, Goring & Streatley and Cholsey and will not call at Pangbourne. Travellers to Pangbourne can change at Tilehurst for a bus to Pangbourne, and travellers from Pangbourne can travel by bus to Tilehurst to connect to the train.

Train services will finish earlier than usual on Christmas Eve, and none will operate on Christmas Day.

On Boxing Day two trains an hour will be in operation between 08:00 and 09:00, calling from London Marylebone to Oxford Parkway, with no services on the rest of the route.

There will be an enhanced service from 27 December to New Year’s Eve between Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street, with some lengthened and additional trains.

On New Year’s Eve four trains are cancelled and late night trains have been added.

The enhanced service picks up from New Year’s Day until regular services resume on 5 January.

Services on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve will finish earlier than usual.

Customers are advised to check its Service Updates page before travelling.

There will be no sailings on Wightlink on Christmas Day. The Christmas timetables can be found here.

Hovertravel has no Christmas Day or Boxing Day service. The Christmas timetable is here.

Red Funnel’s Red Jet will not run on Christmas Day. Its vehicle ferry leaves Southampton at 09:00 and 12:00 and East Cowes at 10:30am and 13:30. The full timetable is here.

In Oxfordshire, the Airline service to Heathrow and Gatwick airports will run a limited service on Christmas Day. Normal weekend services will resume on 27 December, though without night buses.

In Berkshire, First Bus will run a Saturday-level timetable from Christmas Eve through to New Year’s Eve with some earlier finishes. On Christmas Day a reduced service runs on routes A4 and 7.

In Hampshire, Stagecoach will operate hourly specials on some Portsmouth-area routes.

In Dorset, First Bus Wessex will run some late-night routes on 31 January (1, 2 and 10). Networks in Bournemouth will follow a similar pattern with special Christmas Day and Boxing Day timetables on key routes.

The M27 will be closed in both directions between Junction 9 for Whiteley and 11 for Fareham from 20:00 GMT on 24 December until 04:00 on 4 January.

This is so a huge concrete structure that will form a new junction can be slid into position.

“Significant delays” are likely, according to National Highways, and the advice is to plan an alternative route.