Driving home for Christmas? Government puts road and rail works on ice
The government will cancel planned roadworks and rail upgrades, and also lay on extra services, to ease people’s journeys over the Christmas period.
With a large number of people expected to travel to visit relatives and friends over the holidays, ministers have put in place plans for a special travel window between 23 and 27 December.
Under the plans, which were drawn up by former TfL commissioner Sir Peter Hendy, roadworks on 778 miles of motorways and A-roads will be lifted for the duration of the travel window.
Officials have also written to local authorities to ask them to suspend work where possible.
In addition, 70 per cent of local authorities have changed gritting routes to ensure that coronavirus testing centres will remain accessible.
On the country’s railways, 95 per cent of the network will be unaffected by engineering work, with the government altering the timelines for planned upgrades to the East and West Coast main lines.
The planned closure of King’s Cross on Christmas Eve has now been pushed back to the end of service to enable more people to get away.
And work on the West Coast main line will end earlier on 27 December, allowing a full Sunday service to run from 10am, not midday.
The West Coast main line and Chiltern Railways will also run longer trains or extra services to cope with the boost in demand, while East Midlands railway will run a full intercity timetable.
The government is also waiving change of journey admin fees for advance tickets purchase before new Covid tiers were announced on 26 November.
This means passengers will be able to change their journeys for no cost, ensuring they are not left out of pocket for complying with the new COVID restrictions.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “We’re working with transport operators to help people see their loved ones, safely.
“We ask everyone to closely consider their journey, plan and book ahead, be patient, and be considerate of fellow passengers – and particularly staff who have worked so hard all year – by following the guidance carefully, including keeping space and wearing a face covering on public transport.”
Shapps has already warned travellers to try to avoid train journeys over the period, with services expected to be extremely busy.