The government has advised people wanting to visit family and friends to only travel between 23 and 27 December, and we are already seeing an increase in the number of bookings for these dates. As social distancing means there are fewer seats on each train to use, we are asking customers to book early ensure they can travel on the train of their choosing. We are using our website to show the times when more seats are available, and encouraging people to consider traveling at quieter times. We have also removed peak-time restrictions on all our services between 21 December and 1 January.
During this Christmas travel window we will run extra and longer trains to provide all the space we can for customers. We will also have colleagues out and about at stations across our network to help people on their journeys. Customers still need a reservation to travel with us, and face coverings are compulsory unless someone is exempt. Our current high-quality cleaning regime continues, ensuring train interiors and surfaces are as clean as possible, and we have arranged for similar care to be taken on any road transport services.
As there is very little engineering work affecting our services we will operate the full current timetable, and there will be additional road transport at some locations in case trains become too busy. Services will end slightly earlier on the 24th and resume a little later on the 27th, and there are no CrossCountry services on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.
Full details of all this and answers to many other questions are available on our website at crosscountrytrains.co.uk/christmas-travel.
I do hope this assures you of our commitment to the safety of everyone on our trains, so they can travel with confidence this Christmas.
