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Monday 21 May 2018

South Western Railway network safely transports thousands of well-wishers between Waterloo and Windsor for Royal wedding

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

More than 45,000 journeys were safely made between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside on Saturday as the nation celebrated the wedding of Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. 

Well-wishers travelled in great numbers on the South Western network to join the festivities and Network Rail worked closely with South Western Railway ahead of the big day to make sure journeys went smoothly for passengers.

Teams of specialist engineers were located along the route to Windsor to fix any potential faults quickly and keep passengers on the move.  Extra staff were also on hand at Network Rail managed stations, London Waterloo and Clapham Junction, to help people complete their journeys.

South Western Railway doubled the frequency of their services to meet the high demand for travel and provided extra staff at other key stations, including Windsor & Eton Riverside.

Becky Lumlock, managing director for Network Rail’s Wessex route, said:

 “We’re delighted we were able to play our part in helping so many people celebrate what was a wonderful occasion, and we would like to extend our congratulations to Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their marriage.

“I’d like to give a big thank you to our staff, who went above and beyond to keep passengers moving on Saturday, and to our colleagues at South Western Railway, the emergency services and local authorities who we worked very closely with to make sure services ran as smoothly as possible.”

Andy Mellors, managing director of South Western Railway, said:

“We are all very proud to have been part of such a special occasion and would like to send our congratulations to Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their marriage.

“We are pleased that we successfully delivered on our promise to double our train services for the big day as we knew that demand to travel in to Windsor was very high.

“More than 45,000 passenger journeys were made between Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside station without a hitch which is testament to the careful planning and hard work by all involved.

“I’d like to thank our staff on the ground who made sure everything went smoothly and all of our partners, particularly Network Rail and British Transport Police, who also contributed on the day."

ENDS