What do you do with a big empty train station on the one day that no trains run at all? Offer it to the homeless.

In total, 200 homeless people will be invited to spend Christmas Day in Euston Station, which will be otherwise empty on the day.

Around 30 volunteers from Network Rail will also give up their Christmas Day to work alongside volunteers from homelessness charity St Mungo’s and Streets Kitchen.

St Mungo’s provides a bed and support to more than 2,700 people a night across England, and Streets Kitchen is a grassroots organisation that feeds 1,000 people on the streets every week.

The 200 guests, invited by St Mungo’s and Streets Kitchen, will be arriving at London Euston station, which will be filled with decorations, and tables will be laid for dinner so that the guests can enjoy a full Christmas dinner and some company.

Streets Kitchen will be making and serving the dinner with help from the volunteers.

Steve Naybour, head of transformation in Network Rail’s track team, is leading the team running the event: “Working on Christmas Day is pretty much par for the course for many of us who work for Network Rail but this year, because I wasn’t scheduled to work, myself and a handful of colleagues came up with this plan to feed some of London’s homeless instead.”

The initiative is also being supported by the British Transport Police (BTP) and local and national suppliers including the Pret Foundation Trust, Blacks outdoor clothing, Virgin Trains and Abellio.