Metro, the county's passenger transport authority, has confirmed that NO local rail services will be running on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

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Longer distance trains on routes such as the East Coast Main Line and the First TransPennine Express network will also be out of action on those two days.

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Bus timetables will be decimated on December 25, with only a small number of voluntary services operating in West Yorkshire.

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Metro will, however, be running half-hourly Boxing Day services from 9am to 6pm on routes serving the centres of Leeds and Huddersfield.

It will be the third year in a row that the publicly-financed authority has put buses on the road on December 26.

Metro chairman, Coun Ryk Downes, said: "Between the first and the second year that (we] funded Boxing Day services, we saw a 55 per cent jump in the number of people using them.

"We expect even more passengers this year."

Rail travellers are being told to brace themselves for further disruption over the New Year weekend.

Replacement buses will be running between Leeds and Bradford Interchange on January 2 and 3 because of engineering work at Bramley.

Hallam and Pontefract line services between Leeds, Wakefield Kirkgate and Huddersfield will be affected by work in the Barnsley area.

Network Rail, the company responsible for the country's rail infrastructure, is facing criticism over the number of engineering projects happening nationwide.

But a spokesman for the firm said: "We will be running more trains this year than we did in the Christmas and New Year period in 2008-09."
News of the bleak Yuletide travel picture comes as Leeds prepares for three one-day strikes by bus drivers at First.

Walkouts are planned for next Monday and December 12 and 19.

* For full timetable information, visit www.wymetro.com or ring MetroLine on 0113 245 7676.