No trains from Staines on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. Last year Staines trains stopped at Clapham Junction from 27 December to 3 January. What is known.
No trains run from Staines-upon-Thames, Ashford, Sunbury or Shepperton on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, and National Rail has confirmed that for 2026. What South Western Railway has not yet said is whether the big closure between Waterloo and Clapham Junction comes back. Last Christmas the Windsor lines into Waterloo were shut from 27 December to 3 January, and every Windsor, Reading and Weybridge train started and finished at Clapham Junction.
The quick answer
- No trains on Friday 25 or Saturday 26 December 2026. Monday 28 December is the substitute Boxing Day bank holiday.
- Christmas Eve 2025: the last Reading train left Waterloo at 21:20, the last Windsor at 21:03, and the last Weybridge via Staines at 20:22. The 2026 times follow in late November.
- Last year, Staines trains ran only as far as Clapham Junction from 27 December to 3 January. SWR’s 2026 plan is due in October.
What is confirmed for Christmas 2026
National Rail’s Christmas and New Year 2026/27 page sets the national shape:
- Thursday 24 December: trains on many routes finish earlier than normal. A guide to the last trains from London is due in late November or early December.
- Friday 25 December: no National Rail services at all.
- Saturday 26 December: most operators run nothing. A very limited service from a small number of operators is still to be confirmed.
- Monday 28 December: the substitute bank holiday. Services still to be confirmed.
- Thursday 31 December: some routes finish early, and a number of London routes run special trains after midnight. That guide is due in early December.
One closure before Christmas is already booked. On Sunday 13 December 2026 engineering work closes all lines between Clapham Junction and Barnes, and buses replace trains between the two. National Rail lists Staines, Shepperton, Windsor and Reading among the routes affected (National Rail, Barnes 13 December). That is the second-to-last Sunday before Christmas, so allow extra time for a London shopping trip that day.
What last Christmas looked like
South Western Railway’s Christmas travel page still shows the 2025/26 plan, and it is the best guide to what may happen again.
Two sets of lines leave Waterloo. The Windsor lines via Barnes carry the Staines, Ashford, Reading, Windsor and Weybridge trains. Shepperton and Sunbury trains run on the other set, via Wimbledon. Last year’s closure hit the Barnes side much harder.
Christmas Eve last trains from Waterloo, 2025
| Service | Last train, 24 Dec 2025 | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 21:20 | Via Barnes, calls at Staines |
| Windsor & Eton Riverside | 21:03 | Via Barnes |
| Weybridge via Staines | 20:22 | Via Barnes and Staines |
| Shepperton | 21:12 | Via Wimbledon, for Sunbury and Shepperton |
SWR said all services across its network ended before 10pm.
27 December to 4 January
| Date (2025/26) | Staines, Ashford (via Barnes) | Sunbury, Shepperton (via Wimbledon) |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 27 Dec | Reading, Windsor and Weybridge trains twice an hour each, to and from Clapham Junction only | Hourly, to and from Clapham Junction |
| Sun 28 Dec | Reading and Windsor twice an hour to Clapham Junction; no Weybridge via Staines service listed | Hourly, to and from Clapham Junction |
| Mon 29 and Tue 30 Dec | Clapham Junction only | Twice an hour, back into Waterloo |
| Wed 31 Dec | Clapham Junction only | Twice an hour to Waterloo |
| Thu 1 Jan | Reading and Windsor to Clapham Junction; no Weybridge via Staines service listed | Hourly to Waterloo |
| Fri 2 and Sat 3 Jan | Clapham Junction only | Revised service via Wimbledon |
| Sun 4 Jan | No trains between Clapham Junction and Barnes; Reading trains diverted to Waterloo via Wimbledon | Amended service via Wimbledon |
In practice anyone from Staines heading into central London had to change at Clapham Junction for eight days. From Sunbury and Shepperton the trains reached Waterloo again from 29 December.
On New Year’s Eve SWR ran extra trains out of Waterloo after midnight, from 01:20 to 04:45, but they went to Twickenham, Basingstoke and Guildford. None of them served Staines.
Driving and parking
Spelthorne sits outside the Ultra Low Emission Zone, but Heathrow, Feltham and Hanworth are inside it. TfL does not charge on Christmas Day; it does on every other day of the break. Our roadworks and travel page explains where the boundary runs.
Spelthorne Borough Council has not announced any Christmas parking offer for 2026. Four of its car parks in Laleham, Shepperton and Sunbury have been free since 8 September, though none is in Staines itself. Our parking in Staines page has the town centre tariffs.
Still to be confirmed, and when
- SWR’s 2026 Christmas engineering plan and timetable: early October, on SWR’s Christmas page and National Rail’s operator list.
- Christmas Eve last trains: National Rail’s guide, late November or early December.
- Boxing Day and 28 December services: National Rail, to be confirmed.
- New Year’s Eve after-midnight trains: early December.
- Any council Christmas parking concession.
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