No Chiltern trains on Christmas Day. Last year the last Christmas Eve train from Marylebone via High Wycombe left at 9.15pm. Buses, parking and 2026 dates.
Chiltern Railways has not yet published its Christmas 2026 timetable. It loads finalised timetables into its journey planner nine weeks ahead, and last year the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve pages went up on 24 October, with the full festive summary following on 18 December. Until then, last year’s pattern is the best guide, and it is below with this year’s bank holidays alongside.
The quick answer
There are no Chiltern trains on Christmas Day. Last year the last Christmas Eve train from Marylebone to High Wycombe and Aylesbury left at 21.15, and on Boxing Day two trains an hour ran between about 8am and 9pm, calling at High Wycombe but not Princes Risborough (Chiltern Railways, Boxing Day 2025). The 2026 detail is expected from late October.
The dates that matter this year
Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027 (GOV.UK). Chiltern has not said yet whether its Boxing Day service will run on the Saturday or treat the Monday as the holiday.
What Chiltern ran last Christmas
These are 2025 arrangements, not 2026 ones, from Chiltern’s own pages.
Christmas Eve 2025. Services finished early on every route. The last trains that matter for this area were:
| Direction | Last train, Christmas Eve 2025 |
|---|---|
| Marylebone to Aylesbury via High Wycombe | 21.15 |
| Marylebone to Oxford | 20.06 |
| Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street | 20.02 |
| Aylesbury to Princes Risborough | 20.34 |
| Oxford to Marylebone | 20.49 |
| Birmingham Moor Street to Marylebone | 20.17 |
(Chiltern Railways, 24 December 2025)
Christmas Day 2025. No Chiltern trains at all.
Boxing Day 2025. A limited service ran from about 8am to 9pm, only between Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, Gerrards Cross, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Haddenham and Thame Parkway, Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway. Princes Risborough, Saunderton and the Aylesbury lines had no trains. The last northbound train to stop at High Wycombe from Marylebone was the 20.15, and the last from Oxford Parkway towards London was the 20.07 (Chiltern Railways, 26 December 2025). That is a change from Boxing Day 2024, when Princes Risborough was on the list (Chiltern press office, 18 December 2024).
New Year’s Eve 2025. Chiltern ran extra late trains out of London. The 00.10 Marylebone to Aylesbury via High Wycombe was cancelled and replaced by trains at 00.30, 01.10 and 02.00, all via High Wycombe (Chiltern Railways, 31 December 2025).
Between Christmas and New Year 2025, the route via High Wycombe ran, but the Amersham line was closed between Great Missenden and Aylesbury on 27 and 28 December for engineering work, and Marylebone to Amersham had no Chiltern trains on 31 December or 3 and 4 January (Chiltern press office, 18 December 2025).
Buses: Carousel ran on Christmas Day for the first time
Carousel Buses, which runs most High Wycombe town routes, ran special timetables between 24 December 2025 and 3 January 2026 (Carousel Buses):
- Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve: some routes on a full weekday timetable, the rest on a Saturday service with early finishes. PickMeUp High Wycombe ran.
- Christmas Day: for the first time, special timetables on routes 1A, 9, 32A, 33, 37B, 102, 103 and 850, plus a limited airline service.
- Boxing Day and New Year’s Day: a special service on routes 1, 3, 4, 9, 30, 32A, 33, 37B, 102, 103, 850 and the airline, and nothing else.
- 27 to 30 December and 2 January: Saturday, Sunday or weekday timetables by day and route; normal school holiday timetables from 3 January.
Carousel has not yet published its 2026 festive plan.
Free Christmas parking
Buckinghamshire Council gave free parking after 10am on two Saturdays in December in each of the last two years: 14 and 21 December in 2024, and 13 and 20 December in 2025, the second and third Saturdays of the month. In 2025 the High Wycombe car parks were Desborough Street, Desborough Square, Duke Street, Easton Street, George Street, Railway Place, Richardson Street, Totteridge Road and Wycombe Swan; in Marlow, Dean Street, Institute Road, Liston Road, Marlow Central, Pound Lane, Riley Road and West Street; in Princes Risborough, Horns Lane and The Mount; and Wakeman Road in Bourne End (Buckinghamshire Council, December 2025, the Internet Archive’s copy of a page since removed).
If the council repeats the pattern, the dates would be Saturday 12 and Saturday 19 December 2026. That is not confirmed. Easton Street multi-storey has since closed for good, so it will not be on this year’s list. Our parking page has the everyday charges.
Still to be confirmed
- Chiltern’s Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve 2026 timetables. Expected in the planner from late October, with the summary in mid-December.
- Whether Boxing Day trains run on Saturday 26 December, and whether Princes Risborough gets a service.
- Carousel’s 2026 festive timetable and whether Christmas Day buses return.
- The council’s 2026 free parking Saturdays.
Also on Wycombe Today: train times to London, roadworks and travel and Christmas bin collections.
Have your say