No trains on Christmas Day, and last year buses replaced Stratford's Leamington trains from 27 December to 4 January. What is confirmed for 2026 so far.

There are no trains anywhere on Christmas Day, Friday 25 December 2026, and very few on Saturday 26 December. The bigger question for Stratford is the week after. Last Christmas, Chiltern Railways replaced every train between Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington Spa with buses for nine days running, from 27 December to 4 January. The 2026 plans have not been published yet.

Rail companies start adding their festive timetables to National Rail’s Christmas page from the beginning of October. This page will be updated as each piece lands.

The quick answer

  • Christmas Day: no trains. Boxing Day (Saturday 26 December): most operators run nothing. The bank holiday is on Monday 28 December, and its timetable is not confirmed.
  • Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve: trains finish early. Last-train times are due from late November.
  • Last year the Stratford to Leamington line was buses only from 27 December to 4 January. Whether that repeats is not yet known.

What is confirmed for 2026

National Rail’s festive travel summary covers Thursday 24 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027 (National Rail, Christmas and New Year 2026/27). It says:

  • 24 December: services on many routes finish earlier than normal. Its guide to last trains is due in late November or early December.
  • 25 December: no National Rail services.
  • 26 December: most operators run no service, with a very limited service from a few companies, details to follow.
  • 28 December: the substitute Boxing Day bank holiday. Services are to be confirmed.
  • 31 December: some routes finish early.
  • Birmingham New Street has major engineering work from 24 to 28 December inclusive, and journeys to, from or through New Street will be “significantly disrupted”.

Stratford’s own Birmingham trains run to Snow Hill and Moor Street, not New Street, so the New Street closure hits you only if you change there, for example onward to Manchester, the North West or Birmingham International.

Chiltern Railways, which runs the Leamington and London trains, says “further changes will be made to the timetable between 13 December 2026 and 10 January 2027, including significant changes over the Christmas and New Year period” (Chiltern Railways, timetables). Its December timetable change is also the one that brings back direct London trains, covered on our Stratford to London trains page.

What happened last Christmas

Chiltern published its 2025 festive timetable on 18 December 2025 (Chiltern Railways, festive timetable). For Stratford it meant:

Date (2025/26) Stratford to Leamington line
Wed 24 Dec Trains, finishing early. Last Birmingham Moor Street to Marylebone train 20.17
Thu 25 Dec No trains
Fri 26 Dec No Chiltern trains north of Oxford Parkway
Sat 27 Dec to Sun 4 Jan Rail replacement buses all day: Leamington Spa, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway, Stratford-upon-Avon
Mon 5 Jan Normal timetable

The buses ran every day of that stretch, including New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and connected with trains at Leamington. Chiltern ran lengthened and extra trains between Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street on the same days, so the London and Birmingham main line itself kept running from Leamington.

This is a guide to what could happen, not this year’s plan. Christmas Day falls on a Friday this year, a day later than 2025, and the engineering programme changes every year.

West Midlands Railway: Birmingham trains

Stratford’s trains to Birmingham Moor Street and Snow Hill are run by West Midlands Railway. Its festive page blocks automated readers, so we could not check it this session. National Rail lists West Midlands Railway among the companies whose Christmas details will be added from October. The rule for both days applies to it too: no trains on Christmas Day, and very little or nothing on Boxing Day.

Buses and parking

  • Stagecoach, which runs most buses in and out of Stratford, has not yet published festive timetables. Last year’s page has been taken down, so we cannot give you last year’s pattern.
  • Parking: the district council has announced no Christmas parking offers for 2026, and we found none in its 2025 press releases either. Normal charges and the park and ride are on our parking page. If you drive in for the Christmas market, that page has the market-weekend park and ride detail.
  • Roads: current closures and works are on our roadworks page.

Still to confirm, and when

  • Early October onwards: Chiltern and West Midlands Railway festive detail on National Rail’s Christmas page.
  • Late November: Christmas Eve last trains.
  • December: Chiltern’s own festive release (it came out on 18 December last year) and Stagecoach’s festive bus times.

We will update this page as each is published. If you are travelling between Christmas and New Year, check your whole journey on the day as well: National Rail says timetables are still being finalised.

Other pages for the season: school term dates, Christmas bin collections and tip opening times.