Christmas is coming early — at least for Northampton’s rail travellers.

Rail operators warn they expect services from the town to London and Birmingham to be busiest on the final three Saturdays in November, 2025. And they suggest passengers avoid travelling at weekends, switch to midweek off-peak services or wait until December, to avoid the crowds.

London Northwestern Railway, which operates services from London Euston and the North West — via Northampton — says it has tens of thousands of seats available every day for those heading to Christmas markets, light displays and shopping.

Its number crunchers analysed three years of booking data to investigate travel patterns to London Euston, offering savvy shoppers valuable insight into the quieter days to travel in the lead up to Christmas.

Passengers will be heading from Northampton to London by train to see Oxford Street's Christmas lights.

placeholder image — Passengers will be heading from Northampton to London by train to see Oxford Street's Christmas lights.

The rail operator found that three Saturdays — November 15, 22 and 29 — will be the busiest for rail travel between now and Christmas Day. Based on their results, passengers are encouraged to travel in the week for a quieter journey, waiting for off-peak times where possible — and, surprisingly, scheduling festive trips for December might make for less busy journeys.

Jonny Wiseman, LNR customer experience director, said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming passengers onboard for their travel to London this festive season. Carriages will be much quieter on weekdays at off-peak times, so those who might need a bit of extra space for bags of presents should avoid weekend travel where possible.”

Official figures showed that millions more passengers are returning to London Northwestern Railway trains and its sister company West Midlands Railway.

Public transport usage struggled to recover after Covid but a recent report from the Office of Rail Road showed a massive 12 percent year-on-year increase in the number of people using the two operators’ services in the first quarter of 2025-26, equating to more than two million extra journeys.

The increase follows the introduction of more LNR services in December 2024, the rollout of new trains and increased demand for leisure travel across the network, particularly at weekends.

Ian McConnell, LNR managing director, said: “Following the pandemic, we saw a slow but steady return to rail but in the last 12 months we have seen record increases on some routes.”