London Bridge station to be hit by absolute commuting chaos during the holidays. Picture: Matt Buck

Passengers are being warned to plan their Christmas and New Year journeys as major engineering work is due throughout the holidays and will close London Bridge and other mainline stations.

The railroad work, to be carried out between December 23 and January 1, will affect stations between Charing Cross and London Bridge, and London Blackfriars and St. Pancras International, possibly causing Christmas commuting chaos.

Passengers on Thameslink, Gatwick Express and other National Rail services in particular will be affected by the closures. The purpose of the planned closures is partly to improve connections throughout the capital and is due to the final phase of the Thameslink Programme, completing in Spring 2018. South East commuters travelling through London Bridge have endured hundreds of severe delays and cancellations since the programme commenced in January 2015, and the Christmas commuters are recommended to have a plan B.

“This Christmas and New Year our engineers will be working day and night to improve the railway for passengers across the south east. As part of the Thameslink Programme, we’ll be bringing the remainder of the brand new, modern concourse into use at London Bridge and carrying out major resignalling work on the surrounding railway”, said John Halsall, Network Rail’s South East route managing director.

For anyone travelling abroad during the holidays, considerably less trains will run between Victoria station and Gatwick Airport from December 23 and January 1. Additionally, no train services are planned to be running on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, however, rail replacement buses will replace trains on Boxing Day. The Thameslink Programme are advising passengers to avoid travelling through all stations affected if possible.

For any information, please ask your train operator or check online.