Media centre

Tuesday 15 May 2018

Track and train working together to transport Royal wedding well-wishers with up to 60,000 expected to travel to Windsor by train

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Final preparations are being made on the rail network with up to 60,000 passengers expected to catch a train to Windsor this Saturday to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince Henry of Wales and Ms. Meghan Markle.

Network Rail is working closely with South Western Railway and Great Western Railway (GWR) to help well-wishers get to the big day.  Extra train services have been added to the timetable. While frequency and capacity will be greatly increased on the day, passengers should still expect stations and train services to be extremely busy, with queueing systems in place.

Extra teams of specialist Network Rail engineers will be also be located along the route to Windsor to help keep people moving.

Passengers planning to travel from the London area are advised to use South Western Railway services from London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside. Passengers travelling from the West, South Wales and the Cotswolds should change at Reading for Great Western Railway (GWR) services to Slough for the shuttle service to Windsor & Eton Central.

South Western Railway is doubling service frequency to four direct, ten-carriage services every hour from London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside. A queuing system will be in place at stations that are expected to be especially busy including London Waterloo, Clapham Junction, Staines, Slough and Windsor & Eton Riverside.

GWR will run at full-capacity on the Windsor Branch Line, increasing their services from two to four carriages with trains running every 20 minutes throughout the day between Slough and Windsor & Eton Central. Queuing systems will be in place at Slough and Windsor & Eton Central to help get people to and from the event as quickly as possible.

Mark Langman, managing director for Network Rail’s Western route, said:  

“We’re really pleased to be playing our part in the Royal wedding, together with train operators and the emergency services a lot of work has taken place and we are prepared for the huge number of well-wishers travelling.

“It is an exceptional day for rail travel and we look forward to welcoming passengers onto our network. We ask those travelling to take extra care particularly at Reading, Slough and London Paddington as we expect these stations to be very busy.”

Mark Hopwood, managing director for GWR, said:

“We help thousands of people each year travel to some of the biggest events in the country: Reading Festival, Glastonbury and Henley Regatta and many more. This will be one of the largest ever one-day events that has taken place on our network and our aim is to ensure our customers have a great day out and enjoy what will be an international spectacle.”

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

“We’re delighted to be playing our part in the Royal wedding, helping make sure thousands of well-wishers are able to enjoy the celebrations and show their support for the Royal couple.

“This is quite an exceptional day for the train service into Windsor, but all our work with the train companies and the emergency services means we’re absolutely prepared for it. Nonetheless, passengers should still expect to queue at stations.

“We look forward to welcoming passengers from around the country, and indeed the world, on what promises to be a very special day.”

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

“We are very proud to be running train services to Windsor on the day of the Royal Wedding. It will be a momentous occasion which is why we’ve doubled our direct services from Waterloo to four an hour and will be running full ten-carriage trains to make sure we get as many of our customers to Windsor as possible.”

Teams of specialist Network Rail engineers will be located along the route to Windsor to deal with any potential issues and keep people moving.

Extra staff will also be on hand at Network Rail’s managed stations, London Waterloo, London Paddington, Clapham Junction and Reading, and other key stations, including Windsor & Eton Central and Windsor & Eton Riverside, to support passengers on their journeys.

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/royalwedding

www.gwr.com/royalwedding

ENDS