Euston services cut as Northampton–Rugby line closes over Christmas

No trains will run between Northampton and Rugby via Long Buckby from 27 December 2026 to 1 January 2027, while Network Rail replaces a 65-year-old bridge over the River Nene. Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway will run amended timetables to and from London Euston until 3 January.

Network Rail set out the plan on 12 November in a passenger advice notice. The bridge job is the centrepiece of a wider festive programme on the southern West Coast Main Line, and the advice covers anyone travelling on the route between 24 December and 1 January.

A £9.3m bridge in six days

The existing 51-metre bridge deck will be lifted out and replaced with a new structure that has modern waterproofing and better drainage. Network Rail says the £9.3m job will protect the bridge from river erosion and cut long-term maintenance. Around it, crews will remove and reinstall the sleepers, 400 metres of rail and 720 tonnes of ballast, and renew two overhead line structures.

Some of the groundwork is already done. Last weekend, teams installed the foundations and stanchions that will carry the overhead line equipment once the new deck is in place. Packing that much work into six days is only possible because the line is fully closed: a bridge deck cannot be swapped under live overhead wires or between trains.

Rail replacement buses will run between Northampton and Rugby via Long Buckby from 27 December up to and including 1 January. London Northwestern Railway will keep trains running either side of the gap, between Euston and Northampton, and between Rugby and Birmingham. Its northern trains will turn at Birmingham International on 27 and 28 December, then at Birmingham New Street from 29 to 31 December.

Birmingham New Street closed from Christmas Eve

Birmingham New Street is the other pinch point. Overhead power lines on the approaches to and through the station will be replaced between Thursday 24 and Monday 28 December, with no trains serving New Street during that period. Other festive work includes better track drainage in Crick Tunnel in Northamptonshire and an upgrade of the power supply between North Wembley and Bourne End in Buckinghamshire.

For passengers, the result is that Euston-based journeys look normal on the timetable but are slower or need a bus leg. Andy Johnson, project manager at Network Rail, said the railway between Northampton and Rugby will be closed, and advised anyone using the West Coast Main Line between 24 December and 1 January to check with their train operator and National Rail before setting out.

Avanti West Coast says its online journey planners already show the changed timetable and that all ticket types are on sale for the festive period. The amended Euston timetable runs up to and including Sunday 3 January. It comes a few weeks after the nine-day blockade of the Derby to Matlock line from 14 November.

Sources: Network Rail, "Passengers urged to check before travelling to and from London Euston this Christmas", 12 November 2026, accessed 13 November 2026.

Photo: platforms at Long Buckby station, August 2021 — HumveeHardhat, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited, and reviewed by the TrainsNews editorial team before publication.