Tuesday 8 Aug 2017
Over 340,000 visit Waverley during first festival weekend
- Region & Route:
- Scotland’s Railway: Scotland
More than 340,000 people passed through Edinburgh Waverley station during the first weekend of the August Edinburgh festivals, the ScotRail Alliance confirmed today.
The number of people who passed through the station between Friday 4 August and Sunday 6 August shows the scale of the operation undertaken by the ScotRail Alliance to help the festivals run smoothly.
Looking ahead to this weekend (11-13 August), the ScotRail Alliance expects this to be the busiest weekend of the festivals. Customers are encouraged to plan their journeys in advance by visiting www.scotrail.co.uk, downloading the ScotRail app or buying a ticket at the station before boarding.
Highlights of the ScotRail Alliance’s August festivals programme include:
- Additional late night trains between Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street (via Falkirk High) operating daily, departing from Edinburgh at 00.01 and 00.30.
- A major increase in the number of carriages between Glasgow and Edinburgh, particularly Friday to Sunday, both via the Airdrie/Bathgate line and via Falkirk High.
- Many extra carriages between Edinburgh and Fife on Friday evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday.
- An extra service running after midnight between North Berwick and Edinburgh, getting people to and from the Fringe by the Sea.
The ScotRail Alliance’s Operations Director Perry Ramsey said: “Once again Edinburgh’s festival season proves to be a huge draw for visitors coming to enjoy the events.
“We’re proud to play our part in getting people to and from Edinburgh. Where possible, we’ve cut back on any non-essential train engineering or maintenance, so that we have the maximum number of carriages available for use over this busiest weekend.
“We know that our trains will be very busy, so we are encouraging all customers to plan their journeys in advance by visiting scotrail.co.uk, downloading the ScotRail app, or buying a ticket at the station before boarding the train.
“We want everyone to enjoy their day, and smooth and safe travel to and from Edinburgh is all part of that.”
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nick.king3@networkrail.co.uk
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