GWR will run no trains to or from Paddington from Christmas Day to 3 January. From Radley, Culham and Didcot, London means Marylebone, Waterloo or a bus.

Great Western Railway will run no trains to or from London Paddington from Christmas Day to Sunday 3 January. GWR says Network Rail is upgrading track in the Slough area over Christmas, and other work is planned at the same time (GWR Christmas travel changes).

For Abingdon, which has no station of its own, that removes the usual route to London from Radley, Culham and Didcot Parkway for ten days. Trains between those stations and Reading keep running on most days. Getting from Reading into London is the problem.

The quick answer

  • Christmas Eve: trains finish early.
  • Christmas Day and Boxing Day: no GWR trains at all.
  • Sunday 27 December to Sunday 3 January: no GWR trains at Paddington. Go via Oxford to Marylebone, via Reading to Waterloo, or by train to Slough and a replacement bus.
  • Sunday 10 January: trains to Paddington via Slough are affected again.

What GWR says will run

GWR has published closure maps for 27 to 30 December and 31 December to 2 January. Both show the local GWR service still calling at Radley, Culham and Appleford between Oxford, Didcot Parkway and Reading.

GWR’s advice for people travelling to or from London between 27 December and 3 January is:

Starting from GWR’s suggested route into London
Oxford Chiltern Railways trains to London Marylebone
Reading (for Radley, Culham and Didcot) South Western Railway trains to London Waterloo
Slough Replacement buses to Ealing Broadway or Hillingdon until Wednesday 30 December, then to Hayes & Harlington from New Year’s Eve

From Ealing Broadway, GWR points to District and Central line trains into central London. On Sunday 3 January there are no GWR trains between Maidenhead and Slough either. Buses replace them.

GWR is also running trains between London Euston and Swindon via Milton Keynes. They are no use from here. GWR says they “cannot be used at Oxford, Didcot Parkway or Reading”.

Watch Monday 28 December

GWR warns that the South Western Railway trains from Reading to Waterloo “may be extremely busy on Monday 28 December due to rugby at Twickenham”. If you are heading into London that day, Oxford to Marylebone is the alternative GWR names.

What it means for you

  • Booking a London trip between Christmas and New Year? Plan it from Oxford or Reading, not Paddington. GWR’s journey planner on gwr.com and National Rail will carry the detailed times.
  • Radley and Culham to Oxford, Didcot or Reading is not part of the closure, according to GWR’s maps. Check before you travel all the same: GWR’s maps say service patterns “will vary throughout the day”.
  • Flying from Heathrow? GWR advises the Piccadilly line on every day except Christmas Day, and Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line from New Year’s Eve.
  • Coach instead? The Oxford Tube runs from Oxford to London. Stagecoach had not published its 2026 Christmas timetable when we checked. Last year’s pattern is on our Christmas travel page.

Christmas Eve finishes early, so the last train back from London that day will be earlier than usual. GWR has not yet published the times. We will add them, and the full Christmas bus timetables, to our Christmas travel page as they appear. Our trains to London page has the normal pattern from Radley and Didcot.

National Rail’s Christmas and New Year summary says it covers Thursday 24 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027, and that Network Rail will publish details of its major works there when they are available.