Posted 15th September 2022 | No Comments

Royal mourning: transport challenge ‘bigger than Olympics’

Millions of people are due in London for the Queen’s Lying in State and her funeral on Monday, and the first overnight trains to carry some of the visitors to London during the mourning for the Queen are reported to have started to run. More are due over the following nights as the day of Her Majesty’s funeral approaches. 

Meanwhile, London transport commissioner Andy Byford has warned that Transport for London faces a bigger challenge than the Olympics a decade ago. GWR has started to run additional trains between Reading and London, and warned that both stations in Windsor will be very busy until Monday. Although Monday has now been declared a Bank Holiday by the King, National Rail said a normal weekday service will run, but peak time fares will not apply.

Unlike the National Rail operators, TfL can rarely run additional trains on the Underground because all the capacity on some lines is already used for normal traffic. However, trains will be provided on the central section of the Elizabeth Line on Sunday.

Network Rail has cancelled engineering work which had been arranged for a number of sites in London and the south east this week, so that possessions do not interrupt train services.