No trains from Woking on Christmas Day, few or none on 26 December, early finishes on Christmas Eve. What SWR did last year and when the 2026 plan is due.

There will be no trains at all on Christmas Day, and on Saturday 26 December most operators run nothing, National Rail says in its Christmas and New Year 2026/27 summary. Trains on many routes will also stop early on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. South Western Railway, which runs every train from Woking, West Byfleet and Brookwood, has not yet published its 2026 Christmas timetable or engineering plan. Last year it did so in December.

The quick answer

  • Christmas Day, Friday 25 December: no trains anywhere on National Rail.
  • Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December: early finish. Last year SWR’s last services ran at around 10pm.
  • Last Christmas, Waterloo was shut to all SWR trains on 27 and 28 December, with trains ending at Clapham Junction. Whether a closure is planned for 2026 has not been announced.

What is already known for Christmas 2026

National Rail’s festive guide covers Thursday 24 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027 and says:

Date What National Rail says
Thu 24 Dec Services on many routes finish earlier than normal
Fri 25 Dec No National Rail services
Sat 26 Dec Most operators run no service; a very limited service from a few, details to be confirmed
Mon 28 Dec Substitute Boxing Day bank holiday; services to be confirmed
Thu 31 Dec Services on some routes finish earlier than normal
Fri 1 Jan Extra after-midnight services on a number of London routes

National Rail says the operators’ own Christmas details will be added “from the beginning of October onwards”, its last-trains-from-London guide “late November / early December”, and the New Year’s Eve late trains “in early December”.

The National Rail planned-works list, checked on 24 September, runs to mid-December and has no entries yet for the Christmas period on the Woking lines.

What SWR did last Christmas

The 2025 plan is the best guide to the pattern. SWR announced it in December 2025:

  • Christmas Eve: an amended timetable, with services “finishing earlier than usual, at around 2200”.
  • Christmas Day and Boxing Day: no SWR services, “as in previous years”.
  • Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 December: no trains between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction while Network Rail renewed track and signalling near Queenstown Road. Trains through Wimbledon, which is the Woking line, started and finished at Clapham Junction.
  • Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 December: a reduced service through Wimbledon.
  • New Year’s Eve: extra trains from Waterloo to Guildford, Basingstoke and Twickenham between about 1am and 5am. Waterloo ran a queueing system for fireworks crowds.
  • New Year’s Day: a reduced service on all lines.
  • Normal timetable from Monday 5 January.

SWR’s Christmas travel page also showed that on the closure days, trains ran joined to Basingstoke and Alton services between Clapham Junction and Woking and split at Woking, with calling patterns changed. SWR told passengers to check each journey in its planner.

Getting to London on the closure days

If Waterloo is shut again, SWR’s advice last year was to change to the District line at Wimbledon or Richmond, or to Southern services at Clapham Junction for Victoria.

Parking and council offices

Woking Borough Council made its car parks free all day on Christmas Day in 2024 and kept them open as normal through the holiday (council notice, 6 December 2024). The council has not yet published its 2026 arrangements; they appeared on 6 December two years ago. Car park charges and locations are on our parking in Woking page.

Buses

Neither the county nor the bus operators have published Christmas 2026 timetables yet. RHS Wisley says the 462 and 463 buses between Woking station and Guildford do not run on 25 and 26 December.

Still to be confirmed

  • SWR’s Christmas 2026 timetable and any Waterloo closure: expected by early December, possibly from October.
  • Last trains from Waterloo on Christmas Eve and the New Year’s Eve late trains: National Rail’s guides are due late November to early December.
  • Council Christmas parking: expected early December.

For the rest of the season: the Christmas bin collections, the tip opening times and the everyday Woking to London train times. Road closures are on the roadworks page.