The Wedding of HRH Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle
Travel advice from Great Western Railway and South Western Railway for the thousands expected to travel to Windsor
If you are planning to travel to see the wedding procession of HRH Prince Harry and Ms Markle in Windsor, Great Western Railway (GWR) and South Western Railway (SWR) are laying on extra trains and more frequent service from early morning to late into the evening.
With well in excess of 100,000 people expected to travel to Windsor to join the celebration and catch a glimpse of the royal couple, customers are advised that there will be long queues at key stations and to allow extra time for the journey.
GWR will run to its maximum capacity on the Windsor Branch Line, but services on Saturday 19 May will be extremely busy. A queuing system at Slough, and Windsor and Eton Central to help get people to and from the event as quickly as possible will be in place. Train services have been increased from two to four carriages (the maximum that can safely operate on the branch line) and will run every 20 minutes throughout the day.
SWR has increased its service frequency to four direct, ten-carriage services an hour from London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riverside, but trains will also be extremely busy. A queuing system may be in place at stations that are expected to be especially busy including London Waterloo, Staines (which is where customers travelling from the western part of the route should change at), and Windsor and Eton Riverside.
Customers planning to travel from the London area are advised to use South Western Railway services from London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riverside. Customers travelling from the West, South Wales and Cotswolds should change at Reading for Great Western Railway services to Slough.
GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said:
“We help thousands of people each year travel to some of the biggest events in the country: Reading Festival, Glastonbury, 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.”
South Western Railway Managing Director Andy Mellors 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.”
If you are planning to travel to Windsor please allow plenty of time for your journey.
With large numbers of people travelling, GWR and SWR also recommend that customers consider the following:
- Keep baggage to a minimum: Thames Valley Police and British Transport Police will conduct security checks and excess luggage could delay your journey
- Wear sensible clothes for the weather conditions. There will be additional facilities on site but please do ensure you are dressed for the conditions expected throughout the day
- Stagger your journey home: both Windsor stations will be extremely busy. GWR and SWR will provide regular updates on the day through our twitter feeds @GWRhelp and @SW_Help
GWR.com/RoyalWedding
www.southwesternrailway.com/RoyalWedding
Notes to editors
Great Western Railway (GWR) provides high speed, commuter, regional and branch line train services. We help over 100 million passengers reach their destinations every year - across South Wales, the West Country, the Cotswolds, and large parts of Southern England.
We’re currently seeing the biggest investment in the network since Brunel so we can offer more trains, more seats, and shorter, more frequent journeys and continue the network’s heritage of helping connect more businesses to new and prosperous markets. Through a series of initiatives we aim to be a good neighbour to the communities we serve and are committed to making a positive social impact in those regions. Learn how we're Building a Greater West at GWR.com. GWR is a FirstGroup company.
South Western Railway (SWR) operates almost 1,700 services per day across the network. SWR employs more than 5,000 employees and provides commuter inter-urban, regional and long distance services to passengers in South West London and southern counties of England and Island Line services on the Isle of Wight, as well as providing connectivity to the ports and airports in the region.
As well as commuters and business travellers, SWR transports leisure travellers across the region, to many tourist and heritage sites, and the numerous major sporting and social events that take place along the route every year. South Western Railway is a joint venture between FirstGroup plc and MTR Corporation.