London’s busiest station is set to close for eight days over Christmas.

Liverpool Street station will be shut from Christmas Day this year until New Year’s Day for engineering and renovation works.

The station is the UK’s busiest, with some 80 million journeys being made through the hub each year.

During the closure, steel support girders will be placed inside Bishopsgate tunnel and new ticket gates installed at the station for platforms one to ten.

Preparation work ahead of a refurbishment of the station’s roof will also be taking place, including the construction of scaffolding in Exchange Square, at the north end of the Victorian train shed.

This project aims to allow more light into the station, improve the drainage system and make the roof more resilient against storms.

The eight day closure will impact Greater Anglia services, which will run to and from Stratford instead of Liverpool Street.

Stansted Express services will start and terminate at Tottenham Hale over the Christmas period, and London Overground services at London Fields.

Martin Beable, managing director at Greater Anglia, said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the service alterations, and we urge passengers to check before they travel as some journeys may take longer than normal.”

Network Rail has revealed that other London stations will also be impacted by works over the Christmas period.

These works include the replacement of a rail bridge in Camden, which will see East Midland Railway and Thameslink services from St Pancras disrupted between December 21 and 29.

Passengers who usually take the train north from the station have been advised to use different London stations and connecting buses to reach their destinations.

Services will also not call at London Paddington between December 27 and 29 while signalling work needed for trains to run to HS2’s new Old Oak Common station takes place.

Some trains will instead be diverted via London Euston, with the majority starting or stopping at Reading and Ealing Broadway.

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.”