No trains on Christmas Day, very few on Boxing Day, and Birmingham New Street has major works 24 to 28 December. What Rugby travellers know so far.
Checked 25 September 2026. If you are travelling by train from Rugby between Christmas Eve and the New Year, three things are already known. There are no trains anywhere on Christmas Day, almost none on Saturday 26 December, and Birmingham New Street has major engineering work from Thursday 24 to Monday 28 December. The detail for the line through Rugby has not been published yet.
The quick answer
- Friday 25 December: no National Rail trains. Saturday 26 December: most operators run nothing.
- Birmingham New Street: major works 24 to 28 December. Journeys to, from or through it “will be significantly disrupted”, National Rail says.
- Last Christmas the line south of Rugby shut for 11 days. No 2026 closure has been announced for it yet; last year’s was announced on 7 October.
The national picture for 2026
National Rail’s Christmas and New Year 2026/27 summary covers Thursday 24 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027. What it says so far:
- Thursday 24 December: trains on many routes finish earlier than normal. Its list of last trains from London goes up in late November or early December
- Friday 25 December: no National Rail services
- Saturday 26 December: most operators have no service, with a very limited service from a small number, details to be confirmed
- Monday 28 December: the substitute Boxing Day bank holiday. What runs is still to be confirmed
- Thursday 31 December: earlier finishes on some routes
- Operator pages, including Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway, will be filled in “from the beginning of October onwards”
Birmingham New Street, 24 to 28 December
National Rail says Birmingham New Street will have major engineering work from Thursday 24 December to Monday 28 December inclusive, and that journeys to, from or through it will be significantly disrupted, with “more details to follow”.
That matters in Rugby because London Northwestern Railway’s trains from Rugby to Coventry and Birmingham run into New Street. Christmas Day and most of Boxing Day have no trains anyway, so the days to watch are Christmas Eve and Monday 28 December.
Last Christmas: no trains south of Rugby for 11 days
In 2025 Network Rail closed the West Coast Main Line between Milton Keynes and Northampton/Rugby from the evening of 24 December to the morning of 5 January for a £26m rebuild of Hanslope Junction, with rail replacement buses in its place.
- It was first announced on 7 October 2025, as part of a 22-day programme of work along the line
- A reminder on 17 December 2025 confirmed “no trains between Milton Keynes and Northampton/Rugby for eleven consecutive days”
That work is done, and nothing equivalent has been announced for Christmas 2026. National Rail’s list of planned engineering work currently runs only to mid-December, so the absence does not rule anything out. If last year is a guide, the West Coast Christmas programme will be announced in early October.
Already booked for December
One notice on National Rail’s engineering works list touches Rugby before Christmas. On Sunday 13 December, before 11.50am, London Northwestern Railway trains between London Euston or Northampton and Birmingham New Street run to an amended timetable between Euston or Northampton and Coventry, because of work in the Rugby area.
Free Christmas parking in the town centre
Rugby Borough Council has not announced 2026’s festive parking yet. It has offered free parking in each of the last two years, and the offer changed shape between them.
| Year | Dates | Westway | John Barford multi-storey |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15 Nov 2025 to 5 Jan 2026 | Free, seven days a week | Free at weekends; open until 11pm Thursday to Sunday; normal charges on weekdays |
| 2024 | December | Free every day | Free Saturdays and Sundays after 10am, with a free ticket from the machine; opened specially on Sundays |
Sources: the council’s free festive parking page, archived 15 December 2025 (that page was already live on 10 November 2025, and now returns a 404), and its news release of 20 November 2024. Normal tariffs for every council car park are on our parking in Rugby page.
Buses
No bus operator has published Christmas 2026 timetables for Rugby that we could find. We will add them when they appear.
What we are waiting for, and when
- Early October: Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway Christmas pages, and any West Coast Main Line Christmas works announcement
- Early to mid November: the council’s festive parking offer, if it repeats
- Late November or early December: National Rail’s Christmas Eve last trains from London
More Rugby local information: train times to London, roadworks and travel, parking in Rugby, Christmas bin collections and school term dates.
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