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Wednesday 23 May 2018

Wembley-bound football fans urged to plan their journeys this bank holiday

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

Aston Villa, Shrewsbury Town and Coventry City fans heading to Wembley this weekend are being urged to plan ahead and check before they travel if heading to London by train.

Around 90,000 football fans from the three clubs are set to flock to Wembley for the play-off finals over the bank holiday - but planned upgrade work on the railway between Birmingham New Street and Coventry means there will be no trains between the two for the whole weekend.

A major resignalling project between Birmingham New Street and Coventry, via Birmingham International,  means there will be bus replacement services in operation or diverted journeys which will take longer to get to or from London Euston from Saturday 26 May until Tuesday 29 May.

The investment will improve the railway between Birmingham and Coventry, increasing capacity and enabling better, more reliable journeys.

Chiltern Railways will be strengthening its services between Birmingham, Wembley and London Marylebone with 10,000 extra seats over the bank holiday weekend. However trains are still expected to be much busier than usual and queuing systems will be used if needed at stations along the route.

Martin Frobisher, Network Rail route managing director for the London North Western route, said: “These upgrades are a vital step towards us being able to provide better, more reliable journeys for the millions of passengers who travel on the railway from London to Carlisle via the West Midlands and the north west of England.

“The work we do is essential to keeping people and goods moving. Improvement work on the railway is planned years in advance, ahead of any short-term scheduling of sporting events and knowing which teams will compete in finals.

“There is never a good time to carry out big pieces of work but we plan it over bank holidays which are traditionally quieter times to affect the fewest number of people.”

Eleni Jordan, Commercial Director for Chiltern Railways, said: “The rail industry is working to make major improvements to the network around Birmingham for the long-term benefit of passengers, but this will mean short term disruption over the Bank Holiday weekend while several major sporting events are taking place at Wembley Stadium as well as Birmingham Pride.

“We want to make sure everyone who wants to travel by rail can, but we need passengers to know that Chiltern Railways trains will be very busy, and they should allow extra time for their journey.

“Customers travelling to Wembley over the weekend should be aware that queuing systems will be in place at Birmingham Moor Street, London Marylebone and Wembley Stadium stations, and there may be queues of 90 minutes or longer in both directions.

“We’ll have extra people at our stations to help and advise. We appreciate your patience during this busy time.” 

Andrew Conroy, customer experience director at London Northwestern Railway, said: “Engineering works are never convenient for anyone, but we’re working with other train companies to help people complete their journeys whilst the work takes place.

“Customers are advised to check before they travel as journeys may take longer than usual.”

Peter Broadley, executive director, customer, operations and safety at Virgin Trains, said: “We know that improvement works can impact people’s travel plans. We’ve worked closely with Network Rail to minimise disruption and are able to run some trains to and from London, but a much reduced service with extended journey times. We encourage anyone travelling down to Wembley to cheer on their team this bank holiday weekend to speak to our station staff or check our website when planning their journey.”

 Elsewhere, work will be taking place across the country as part of the Railway Upgrade Plan to improve journeys, including:

• Track renewal in the Penrith area on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 May which will mean bus replacement services for some journeys on the West Coast main line
• Ongoing improvements on the Halton Curve and Weaver-Wavertree projects from 12.15pm on Saturday 27 May until 11.55am on Monday 28 May which will affect some services in and out of Liverpool Lime Street.
• Further work on the railway between Preston and Manchester as work continues to electrify the railway. This will affect all services to and from Manchester via Bolton from Saturday 26 to Monday 28 May.

There will also be enabling work at Euston taking place in preparation for High Speed 2.

Passengers can get the latest travel information and plan their journeys at www.nationalrail.co.uk or via their train operator.