Passengers travelling to and from Penzance, Plymouth, Exeter, Swansea and Cardiff will instead have hourly trains to Euston, although these will not stop at Reading and seat reservations are required.
Those taking journeys from Bristol, Bath, Oxford and Worcester will, however, run to Reading, where passengers then need to change to trains bound for Ealing Broadway or Waterloo.
West Coast Main Line: December 28 to January 5 (in parts)
Crewe station will be closed between December 28 and 30 (although full capacity will not return until January 5), meaning for many travelling to and from the north of the country, rail connections will be severely impacted. Trains that usually pass through the station will instead be sent to Manchester.
On Christmas Eve and December 27, there will be no Avanti West Coast services to Liverpool Lime Street. Services to the city will also not run during the engineering work at Crewe, either.
Trains from Euston to Birmingham and Manchester will also be reduced in number.
On New Year’s Day, the line from Milton Keynes Central to Rugby will be closed, with Avanti West Coast operating rail replacement buses between the two stations instead. Services to Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham will start at Rugby.
Midland Main Line: December 21 to 29
There will be no trains on the Midland Main Line between December 21 to 29, although hourly East Midlands trains will run between Sheffield, Corby, Nottingham and Bedford. Rail replacement buses will run to Milton Keynes Central.
Passengers have been warned that trains to and from London on this line could take up to an hour longer (and diversions are expected). Thameslink trains will be badly affected.
Roads
Last year, an estimated 21 million journeys were taken by car over the Christmas period. While breakdown experts like the RAC and AA have not yet revealed their figures for this year, the number is expected to be similar – especially as rail travel is disrupted.