No trains from Tonbridge on Christmas Day, an early finish on Christmas Eve, and last year Charing Cross shut 1 to 4 January. Day by day, 24 Dec to 4 Jan.
There will be no trains from Tonbridge on Christmas Day, and Christmas Eve services will finish earlier than usual. Those two points are fixed for 2026. Almost everything else about the festive fortnight is still to be published, and Southeastern’s own Christmas page still carries last year’s dates.
This page sets out what National Rail has confirmed, what Southeastern did last year at the London end of the Tonbridge lines, and when the 2026 detail is due. It will be updated as each piece lands.
The quick answer
- Thursday 24 December: trains run, but “services on many routes will finish earlier than normal”. Last year Southeastern ran a Saturday timetable with nothing after about 10pm.
- Friday 25 December: no National Rail services at all. Last year Southeastern ran nothing on Boxing Day either.
- Monday 28 December is the Boxing Day bank holiday substitute. Services are “to be confirmed”.
- Friday 1 January 2027: extra late-night trains on London routes after midnight. Last year Charing Cross and Waterloo East then closed from 1 to 4 January, so Tonbridge trains ran to Cannon Street or London Bridge instead.
Day by day, 24 December to 4 January
| Date | What is published |
|---|---|
| Thu 24 December | Services on many routes finish earlier than normal |
| Fri 25 December | No National Rail services |
| Sat 26 December | Most operators run nothing; a small number run a very limited service |
| Sun 27 December | Not yet detailed |
| Mon 28 December | Bank holiday substitute; services to be confirmed |
| Tue 29 to Wed 30 December | Not yet detailed |
| Thu 31 December | Services on some routes finish earlier than normal |
| Fri 1 January 2027 | Special late-night services on London area routes after midnight |
| Sat 2 to Mon 4 January | Not yet detailed |
Every line of that comes from National Rail’s Christmas and New Year 2026/27 guide, which covers “Thursday 24 December 2026 until Monday 4 January 2027 inclusive”. It says operator-by-operator detail appears “from the beginning of October onwards”, its guide to the last trains out of London will be published in “late November / early December”, and the New Year’s Day extra services guide in early December.
What Southeastern did last year
Southeastern’s Christmas and New Year page had not been rewritten for 2026 when we checked on 25 September. It still describes a revised timetable “from Saturday 20 December to Sunday 4 January”, which are the 2025/26 dates. Read as a precedent, it tells you the shape of the fortnight:
- Christmas Eve: a Saturday timetable with an early finish, “no trains running after approximately 22:00”.
- Christmas Day and Boxing Day: “No Southeastern trains will run.”
- 27 to 31 December: no Southeastern trains at London Victoria, with services diverted to Cannon Street. That did not touch Tonbridge’s Charing Cross and Cannon Street trains directly.
- 29 and 30 December: a Saturday timetable with extra trains, and off-peak fares all day.
- New Year’s Eve: “Additional late-night trains will run from Charing Cross, Cannon Street and London Bridge after midnight.”
- 1 to 4 January: Network Rail closed London Charing Cross and Waterloo East for maintenance between the two stations, and closed Cannon Street on 1 and 4 January as well, leaving a limited service to London Bridge with most trains diverted to Victoria (Network Rail, 17 November 2025).
That last item is the one that matters most here. Tonbridge’s London trains run to Charing Cross and Cannon Street, so a repeat of the January closure would mean changing at London Bridge or using Victoria for the first days back at work. Network Rail published its 2025/26 plan on 17 November, so the 2026/27 equivalent should be out by the third week of November.
What it means for you: do not book anything that depends on a late train home to Tonbridge on 24 or 31 December until the timetable is out, and if you are travelling on 1 to 4 January, expect the London terminus to be different.
The December timetable change comes first
Before any of this, Southeastern’s new timetable starts on Sunday 13 December 2026. For Tonbridge it brings a weekday Hastings Express between Hastings and Charing Cross, half-hourly semi-fast Tunbridge Wells to Charing Cross trains through the off-peak on weekdays and Saturdays, and a new 16:58 Cannon Street to Ashford service via Tonbridge and Headcorn (Southeastern). Southeastern says journey planners were updated from 20 September, so a search for a Christmas week journey now shows the new base timetable, not yet the festive changes.
Our train times page has the normal pattern of services, and the autumn closures page covers the nine-day Hastings line closure over October half term.
Buses
Neither Arriva Kent and Surrey nor GoBus had published Christmas 2026 timetables when we checked. In previous years both ran reduced services between Christmas and New Year and nothing on Christmas Day. We will add the detail when it is out, normally in early December.
Parking over Christmas
The borough council’s car parks are free on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. That line appears on each car park’s own entry in the council’s directory, for example Bradford Street, which otherwise charges 8am to 8pm every day of the week. There is no free Saturday parking in December in Tonbridge and Malling. Our parking page has every car park and tariff, and the roadworks and travel page carries the live road closures.
Still to be confirmed
- Southeastern’s Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve last trains from Charing Cross and Cannon Street: expected with the operator detail from early October, with National Rail’s last-trains guide in late November.
- Whether Charing Cross closes again in the first days of January: Network Rail’s Kent Christmas plan, expected mid-November.
- Boxing Day and 28 December services: to be confirmed by Southeastern.
- Arriva and GoBus festive timetables: expected early December.
Bin collections over the same fortnight are on our Christmas bin collections page.
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