AIBU to be surprised that the trains don't run over Christmas?

[HeritageQuay]

So I've been invited by friends to their Christmas lunch in central London. Having been on my own for the last few years, I was delighted to be invited and immediately accepted.

I live about 50 miles outside London and so travel by train is clearly the most sensible option. Accordingly I have been ordering presents etc. on Amazon for delivery to my hosts.

So today I tried to look up train times, only to find that there are no trains at all on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. This came as complete surprise to me, is this a one-off or is it a regular thing?

Not quite sure how to get there now as the last thing I want to do is drive through London with all the issues re Congestion Charge / Ulez / Street parking etc., and in any case I wanted to enjoy a few drinks at Christmas!

How do other people travel at Christmas?

you don't need to shut down the entire service to do essential maintenance - you stagger it and do it piece by piece.

It is actually astonishing to me (no I never lived in London) that the underground and bus service in London - a major world city - shuts down on Christmas day - leaving people like the poster upthread to get to their essential work in hospitals, emergency services, essential services like electrical grid etc. on their own. Surely you just run a reduced schedule? I had to google it to make sure it was true. And Dublin is the same - not even a skeleton service for hospital workers. I'm really surprised by this.

Yes, there are engineering works throughout the year, but my understanding us that they plan works over xmas that require a longer closure, because it's the day when there are fewest people working.

I'm not advocating for this BTW, I don't decide on when the closures take place ffs! 🙄 Just highlighting that the railways aren't closed on xmas day just to give the drivers a day off!

Thinking back, I've genuinely never needed/wanted to travel at Christmas before. I would always drive home from work on Christmas eve, spend Christmas with my parents, and then drive back to work on the day after boxing day.

It is not unusual.
Buses don't run either.
I used to have to get a taxi to work on xmas day, but thankfully my employer paid for it, otherwise I would not have been there.

Sorry but it's pretty obvious they don't run those days. I thought you meant between Xmas and New year as I know there's few if any trains into Paddington then due to works

Christmas Day is the best day to drive in central London! ULEZ suspended, congestion charge suspended, all the roads empty and parking free almost everywhere.

I agree with you OP - public transport on a skeletal system should run or at least on new years day! that always kills me

Why not? Public transport doesnt stop in other capitals around Europe.
Plus there is loads of people in the UK who dont celebrate Christmas.

Trains do run on NYD.

Most of whom are not bus or train drivers...

Christmas is the busiest time for essential track maintenance because of the network shutdown. Would you prefer that the whole network shuts down for a week in January?

Public transport is an essential public service and should be treated as such, let just shut hospitals and cancel gravity too. Because Christmas…

I am quite shocked at this, and I grew up getting busses when you gave 12p to the conductor!

YABVVU and totally ignorant. As others have said, it's always been like this.
Train staff deserve a day off too!

Because it's the most important feast day of the year. If you want to spend time with your family and friends, don't you think people who work for the railways want to as well??

NR trains don't run through London on Christmas Day & Boxing Day because of an agreement reached decades ago. Same with Overground and Thameslink routes. Tubes have Christmas Day off, have done for donkeys, as do most buses. They start up again about 7-7.30am on Boxing Day. I work for TfL and am glad to get one guaranteed day off a year, to be honest. (The rest of my rest days and annual leave are on a rota)

Public transport has never run on Christmas Day.

My company has staff who work shifts on property developments over 24 hours a day, and we have to book staff taxis in advance to make sure they can get in to work.

Exactly so this is what you do when you want to spend Christmas elsewhere. You spend the night to avoid travelling on the actual day.

People of various religions and none celebrate Christmas, either just because it's a public holiday, as a mid-winter festival or as part of new year celebrations. You can't assume that a particular person doesn't celebrate Christmas.

They do it bit by bit most nights. My dad also worked Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. He always still said it wasnt enough time.

Last trains get in about 1am. My dad could never start work properly until about 3am. Then trains start again at 4.30/5!!

They work during this and have safety measures but its not enough time to properly do things.

Christmas is a great time to actually have the time they need to properly do things.

Because they do in most major cities around the world. I'm really shocked they don't run in London.

Public transport is important, but it's not essential like a hospital. Saving lives is different from taking people from A to B. Hospital staff sometimes have to not be home for Christmas day, but the same shouldn't apply to transport staff.

Yep, it's normal. There isn't much public transport on Christmas Day in London.

There is no congestion charge or ulez on Christmas Day. A lot of the central boroughs also suspend parking charges for the day. If not your friends should be able to get a visitor pass for you.

Central London roads are really quiet on Christmas Day, so it will be a lot quicker and easier than you think.

This is it. It’s the only time apart from Easter or a line blockage (which is extremely disruptive and expensive) to do major work like replacing the track at major junctions etc.

I voted YABU because I’m surprised you didn’t realise this. It’s hard enough getting staff for regular train services on Sundays let alone Christmas Day.

However you have a point on this - and it’s partly why I’m ignoring the government push on this and cracking on with my driving lessons. Hope to be driving in 2025.

Obviously there’s other reasons too but bottom line is - public transport is not as reliable or comprehensive as it should be for them to reasonably expect people, outside of London especially, to give up their cars.

You’re lucky you drive - you should use your car if you really want to see your friends on Christmas Day!

And in response to your question about how do people travel at Christmas - if they’re not driving they plan to leave before the 25th and stay overnight at their friends /book a hotel.

I did the former last year when I stayed with a friend for Christmas. Arrived at their house a couple days before Christmas and left on the 27th when trains were running again.

If they had just invited me to visit on the 25th only, I would have declined as I couldn’t travel on the day obviously and they lived way too far for an Uber (3 hours + away).

Are the petrol stations also closed? I'm sure their workers would also like the day off or do you expect to be able to buy petrol for you car of you drive on Christmas day?