London is always a hotbed of activity come December with all the festivities on offer.
Whether it is for shopping, Santa visits or just seeing the festive sights and lights – trains and the Tube are often the best way of getting around the capital. But what happens to these services during the holidays?
Read on to find out the best ways of getting out and about this Christmas and what will not be available.
Overground trains
There is set to be disruption on many routes between December 22 and January 2, and some train companies will be making changes to their timetable to match services to the number of customers travelling. On Christmas Day there will be no public transport at all.
On Boxing Day there will be no service on the Gospel Oak-Barking Riverside line, and the line that serves London Liverpool Street to Chingford/Enfield Town/Cheshunt.
There will also be no service between Highbury and Islington/Dalston Junction to Crystal Palace/West Croydon.
As well as the annual changes due to engineering, there is also the possibility of short-notice disruption because of industrial action.
There are no strikes on the network planned for the Christmas period at present.
The full list of closures are here for overground services.
On Christmas Eve, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, Elizabeth line, London Overground and London Trams will finish earlier than normal.
Elizabeth line
On Christmas Eve, there will be reduced service from Ealing Broadway to Maidenhead and the service will not stop at Heathrow T4. There are zero services running on Elizabeth line on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
There will be a reduced service on December 27.
Tube services
There will be no Tube services on Christmas Day but on Christmas Eve the service will be run as a Sunday service.
The Waterloo and City line has a planned closure in place and will not run at all on Christmas Eve. There will also be no service to Kensington Olympia after 8pm on the District line.
Bus services
On Christmas Eve a Sunday service will be in place for London's bus services. This will only be on day routes and there will be no night service. Normal 24-hour services will finish around midnight.
Buses and night buses will not run on Christmas Day.
On Boxing Day, buses will go back to a Sunday service.
On Wednesday December 27, a Saturday service will be back in place on a Saturday and normal night services will resume.
About 350 drivers and engineers in west London who are Unite members will strike over December 21-23. The workers are based at the Westbourne Park garage and are in a dispute about pay.
