History. No count from the five closures: New Street reopens on 29 December, a working day between Christmas and New Year, so the first-working-day closures are not its own. The question comes from Network Rail's public promise of a full timetable at a station it returns to for two more Christmases.
Hunch. New Street reopens on 29 December, in the middle of the holiday, and all four past Christmas reopenings on such days ran late.
Resolves YES if from the start of service on Tuesday 29 December 2026 trains stop at and run through Birmingham New Street to the normal timetable, as shown by Network Rail and the National Rail Enquiries page for the closure. A closed station or a delay of hours caused by the works is NO, and BBC News and the Guardian settle it if the official pages are silent.
We looked for cases where Network Rail closed a main London station or Birmingham New Street for holiday works that put in new equipment, and named a reopening day that was the first working day after the holiday. We found five such closures since 2007, all in London. Three reopened in full on the morning Network Rail had named.