Exeter Christmas trains and buses 2026: none on the 25th

If you are travelling in or out of Exeter over Christmas 2026, three things are already certain: trains stop early on Christmas Eve, nothing runs on Christmas Day, and Boxing Day has at most a skeleton service from a handful of operators. The train companies’ own timetables, and Network Rail’s list of engineering works, follow from October.

The quick answer

• No trains on Friday 25 December 2026, and “most train operators will have no service” on Saturday 26 December.
• The Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December; services that day are still to be confirmed.
• Last year’s last train from Waterloo to Exeter St Davids on Christmas Eve left at 6.20pm. The 2026 time is not published yet.

Checked against National Rail, SWR, GWR and Stagecoach’s own pages on 25 September 2026.

What National Rail has confirmed for 2026/27

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

Each train company’s own Christmas details will be added “from the beginning of October onwards”, the list of last trains out of London “late November / early December”, and the full list of major engineering works “when available”. National Rail has named one big job so far, at Birmingham New Street from 24 to 28 December.

Exeter’s two lines to London

South Western Railway (London Waterloo). Last Christmas Eve the last train from London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids left at 18:20, and SWR ran no trains at all on 25 and 26 December. From 27 December 2025 to 4 January 2026, the line between Waterloo and Clapham Junction was closed, so trains started and finished at Clapham Junction (South Western Railway, Christmas travel). That page still carries the 2025/26 arrangements; SWR has not published 2026’s.

Great Western Railway (Paddington). GWR’s Christmas page has not yet been updated with this year’s details (GWR). The recent pattern is for Paddington itself to be the problem. In 2024 no main line trains ran to or from Paddington between Christmas Eve and Monday 30 December, and GWR diverted an hourly Devon and Cornwall service into London Euston instead, reservation only (GWR, 2 December 2024). That was 2024’s plan, not 2026’s.

Exeter to London journey times and fares the rest of the year are on our Exeter train times to London page.

Buses: last year’s Stagecoach pattern

Stagecoach South West has not published its 2026 festive timetable. Last year it ran (Stagecoach, Christmas and New Year bus services):

• Special timetables from Monday 22 December to Friday 2 January
• Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve: earlier last buses, with last journeys “from 6pm onwards”; night buses ran on New Year’s Eve
• No buses on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day
• Exeter routes 24, X30, 58A, 348, 349, 351 and park and ride on their Monday to Friday timetable on the working days in between; other routes on a Saturday timetable
• No school or college services all period

Expect the 2026 timetable in December. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are Fridays this year, so the gaps land on different days of the week from 2025.

Parking

Exeter City Council has not announced a Christmas parking offer for 2026. What already exists all year: free parking after 6pm on Thursdays at the Guildhall and John Lewis pay-on-foot car parks, with John Lewis closing at 9.45pm and Guildhall at midnight (Exeter City Council). Tariffs, the park and ride and blue badge rules are on our parking in Exeter page, and road closures on Exeter roadworks.

Coming in for the Cathedral Christmas Market? That page has its dates and opening hours.

Still to be confirmed

• GWR and SWR Christmas timetables, from October onwards
• Network Rail’s Christmas engineering works, expected in the autumn
• Last trains from London on Christmas Eve, late November or early December
• Stagecoach’s festive bus timetable, expected in December

Also on the Christmas list: Exeter Christmas bin collections.