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Friday 31 Jan 2014

Rail industry supports Sunderland’s big day at Wembley

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Sunderland football fans’ route to Wembley is easier after rail engineering works were re-planned and extra trains provided for the club’s appearance in the Capital One Cup final.

Thousands of Black Cats supporters are expected to make the journey south to cheer on their team at Wembley Stadium in the Wearsiders’ first cup final appearance in 22 years on Sunday, 2 March 2014. Network Rail has worked with train operators East Coast and Grand Central to help fans get to Wembley in time for kick off – and home again after the match.

Phil Verster, Route Managing Director for Network Rail, said: “Every weekend we have hundreds of engineers out on the tracks working to maintain and improve our railway. The weekend of the Capital One Cup final was no exception. Moving engineering work is not a simple undertaking but we know what a big occasion this is for the club and have worked hard with operators and the Football Association to get fans to the capital by rail.

“The decision to re-plan some of our engineering work was only taken after meticulous checks that we could do so safely, without impacting train performance on the East Coast Main Line. The renewal of a major junction at Colton, south of York has been re-planned for the summer. We have also re-timed track renewals at Templehirst, drainage work at East Boldon and track work at Seburn to make sure trains can run at the best times for fans.”

The additional Grand Central service will run between Sunderland and London as follows:

Sunday 2 March 2014:

• 08.12 Sunderland direct to London King’s Cross
• 17.45 London King’s Cross direct to Sunderland

The additional East Coast train services will run from the North East to London as follows:

Saturday 1 March 2014:

• 09.22 Newcastle to London King’s Cross, calling at Durham, Darlington, York and London King’s Cross
• 11.22 Newcastle to London King’s Cross, calling at Durham, Darlington, York and London King’s Cross

Sunday 2 March 2014:

• 07.30 Newcastle to London King’s Cross, calling at Durham, Darlington, York and London King’s Cross
• 08.30 Newcastle to London King’s Cross, calling at Durham, Darlington, York and London King’s Cross

Extra East Coast train services will also run from London to the North East as follows:

Sunday 2 March 2014:

• 18.45 London King’s Cross to Newcastle, calling at York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
• 19.15 London King’s Cross to Newcastle, calling at York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
• 19.45 London King’s Cross to Newcastle, calling at York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
• 20.42 London King’s Cross to Newcastle, calling at York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle

In addition, the 20.45 and 21.45 London King’s Cross to York services on Sunday 2 March will both be extended to operate through to Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.

East Coast Commercial and Customer Service Director Peter Williams said: “Demand for travel with us for cup final weekend began rising rapidly within hours of Sunderland’s semi-final victory at Old Trafford.

“Network Rail planned to carry out engineering work south of York on both Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 March, but some of this has now been rescheduled to allow us to run extra trains on both days, which is great news for our customers.

“We’re already seeing high demand for travel to and from London across the whole cup final weekend. Our advice to fans is to book travel as soon as possible, while those who can choose to travel south on Saturday 1 March should do so, as we will have more capacity available across the Saturday than on the Sunday morning, when we expect all our services to be very busy.

“With so many fans expected to travel, the roads into London will be even busier than normal. The sensible choice for Sunderland fans is to let the East Coast train take the strain – and hopefully they’ll be returning to the North East with us having witnessed a famous cup win by the Black Cats at Wembley.”

Grand Central Managing Director Richard McClean said: "We're delighted to play our part in helping the Sunderland AFC fans get to Wembley for the cup final. We have already arranged to run an extra direct return service between Sunderland and London on Sunday 2 March in order to accommodate the highest-ever demand for our services.

“Our existing services on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 March are already very busy. Tickets for the additional service go on sale on Monday 3 February and we expect tickets to sell very quickly. Our advice to fans is to buy their rail tickets as soon as possible."

The additional Grand Central service will run between Sunderland and London as follows:

Sunday 2 March 2014:

• 08.12 Sunderland direct to London King’s Cross, arriving 11.30
• Time TBC London King’s Cross direct to Sunderland