Chichester Christmas Trains: None on 25 or 26 December

There will be no trains from Chichester on Christmas Day, and most operators will run none on Saturday 26 December either. That much is already on National Rail’s 2026/27 Christmas page. Southern has now published its plan for the festive fortnight. Its limited Boxing Day service does not include any route through Chichester.

Updated 28 October: Southern’s Christmas and New Year arrangements are now out, including a rail replacement bus for the first train of Christmas Eve. Details below.

The quick answer

• Friday 25 December: no National Rail services anywhere.
• Thursday 24 December: the 04:55 Chichester to Brighton starts from Barnham, with a bus from Chichester to Barnham. Southern has not yet said when the last trains run.
• Saturday 26 December: no Southern trains at Chichester. Southern’s limited service runs only on a few London, Gatwick and Brighton routes.
• Monday 28 December to Friday 1 January: an amended and reduced Southern timetable.
• Engineering work at Redhill from 20 December to 3 January does not touch the line through Chichester.
• Parking: last December, council car parks gave a third hour free on weekends through MiPermit, and Avenue de Chartres was free on Sundays.

Checked on 28 October 2026.

Trains: what National Rail has said

National Rail’s Christmas and New Year 2026/27 page covers Thursday 24 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027. It says:

• trains on many routes will finish early on Christmas Eve, and passengers should not assume the normal timetable is running;
• there are no National Rail services on Christmas Day;
• on Saturday 26 December “most train operators will have no service”, with a very limited service from a small number of operators, details to be confirmed;
• the Boxing Day bank holiday is on Monday 28 December this year, and the services running that day are still to be confirmed;
• trains on some routes will finish early on New Year’s Eve.

Each train company’s own Christmas arrangements are being added to that page “from the beginning of October onwards”. Its guide to last trains out of London will be published “late November / early December”.

Chichester station is managed by Southern, according to National Rail’s station page, and Southern runs the direct trains to London Victoria. For the normal pattern, see our Chichester train times to London page.

Southern’s plan, day by day

Southern’s Christmas and New Year page on National Rail sets out each day. For Chichester it says:

The limited Boxing Day service runs between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport, London Victoria and Brighton, and on a few suburban London routes. The page lists them as the only routes running that day.

Southern has not published Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve finishing times for Chichester yet. Check the journey planner on the day: the page asks passengers to keep checking until they travel.

Engineering work: last year missed the coast line

Network Rail’s Sussex and south London Christmas works release for 2025/26 listed jobs at East Croydon, Gatwick, Three Bridges, South Bermondsey, Tulse Hill and on the East Grinstead and Uckfield lines. None of the named jobs was on the line through Chichester. That says nothing about this year. The 2026/27 programme has not been published; National Rail says full details of major works “will be published here when available”.

This year’s main job in Sussex is at Redhill. National Rail’s notice says engineering work between Reigate and Redhill closes all lines from Sunday 20 December to Sunday 3 January. Southern trains between London Victoria and Reigate will not run, and Victoria to Brighton trains will call additionally at Purley and Horley.

The notice lists Southern’s Victoria to Bognor Regis and Portsmouth Harbour route among those affected. The changes it describes are all on the Redhill line. Chichester’s direct trains to Victoria run via Horsham, which the notice does not mention. National Rail’s main Christmas page names Redhill, London Charing Cross, Waterloo, Paddington, Doncaster and Northampton as the other works this year, none of them on the line through Chichester.

We will add any further Christmas work affecting Chichester here as soon as it is announced.

Buses

Stagecoach runs most of the local routes. Its Christmas and New Year timetables for 2026 are not published yet; watch its Chichester and Bognor Regis service updates page from early December. We will add the Christmas Eve last buses and the days with no service when they are out.

Council car parks and Christmas parking

Chichester District Council has not announced its 2026 festive parking offers. Last year’s, from its release of 26 November 2025:

• Weekends in December: pay for two hours through the MiPermit app and get a third hour free, in most council car parks. The offer did not apply at Avenue de Chartres multi-storey.
• Sundays in December: parking at Avenue de Chartres was free.

In 2024 the council also made Avenue de Chartres free from 4pm on the evening of the Christmas lights switch-on, according to its November 2024 announcement. It did not repeat that in 2025’s release. The 2026 switch-on date is still to be set: see our Christmas lights switch-on page.

Normal restrictions still apply over the holiday. Last year the council said “all parking restrictions and charges apply during the holidays” and civil enforcement officers kept working; its parking office closed at 1pm on 24 December and reopened at 9am on 2 January, according to its Christmas closure notice. For tariffs and car park by car park prices, see our parking in Chichester page, and for road closures our roadworks and travel page.

Still to be confirmed

• Southern’s last train times on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, and the Monday 4 January service.
• Last trains from London on Christmas Eve (late November or early December).
• Stagecoach’s Christmas bus timetables (December).
• Chichester District Council’s 2026 festive parking offers (late November last year).