Passengers have been advised to plan ahead after Network Rail announced that the country's busiest train station would close during the festive period.

Liverpool Street Station, which is currently the busiest in the UK, is set to be shut for eight days.

Paddington Station and the Thameslink and East Midlands services north of St Pancras are also set to be affected.

Trains to London's four biggest airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton - will be affected duirng this time.

Passengers have been advised to plan aheadPassengers have been advised to plan ahead (Image: Lucy North/PA)

The most severe of these disruptions looks set to impact the Midland mainline from St Pancras.

Liverpool Street Station to close for eight days around Christmas

According to The Guardian, there will be no East Midlands Railway services south of Bedford and no Thameslink services up to Harpenden from December 21 to December 29.

Passengers who would usually take a train north from St Pancras will be diverted to other stations and connecting buses.

No services will be called at London Paddington between December 27 and December 29 due to work taking place on the new Old Oak Common station.

Some trains will run to and from Euston but the majority will depart or terminate at Reading and Ealing Broadway.

Liverpool Street Station will close from December 25 to January 2 to facilitate works at the Bishopsgate tunnel and on the train station itself.

Signalling work at Crewe will also be carried out on December 27, affecting services until January 3.

A great number of trains into Cambridge will be replaced by buses from Christmas Day until January 6.

Helen Hamlin, Network Rail’s director of system operations, said: “The festive period is a unique opportunity, when fewer people are travelling, to do big pieces of work to make services better, more punctual and more reliable.

“The major projects we’re undertaking would otherwise take many weekends to complete and cause much more disruption. Whilst roads are busier during the holidays, it’s actually one of the quietest times on the railway, meaning we can improve things whilst causing less disruption to passengers and freight flows.”

She added: “Most of the railway will be open as normal over Christmas and New Year, so passengers can go ahead and book their travel – timetables will start to go live this weekend. Just be sure to plan ahead as there will be significant changes to journeys on some key routes.”