Trains and the Rugby World Cup

[quarella]

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/rugby-travel.aspx

Rugby World Cup

For the eighth time the world will see twenty of the finest Rugby Union National teams compete to win the coveted Webb Ellis Cup and be crowned The World Champions.

This is the second time England has been host nation for Rugby’s biggest event and will see the country prepare to welcome the Rugby World Cup back to where the sport was invented all those years ago. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales is also hosting eight matches.

The Rugby World Cup is the third largest sporting event in the world, with an estimated 2.22 million people set to attend across the six week tournament.

As a result there will be an increase in the number of people travelling across our network, particularly affecting the footfall through London Waterloo, Clapham Junction, Richmond, Exeter Central and of course, Twickenham station. Queuing and one way systems may also be in place at key locations across our network to get everyone onto and off trains as safely as possible.

For ten of the forty eight matches, 82,000 spectators, many of whom will be on our trains, will travel to Twickenham Stadium, the ‘Home of England Rugby’ and the biggest dedicated Rugby ground in the world.

12,300 spectators will fill the Sandy Park Stadium in Exeter for three of the forty eight matches.

We thought we’d put together a bit of information to help you make a game plan while travelling on our network.

Special Advice for the first match and opening ceremony on Friday 18 September 2015:

If you are a regular commuter, are not attending the match on Friday and travel with us on this route, you are advised that our trains are going to be exceptionally busy and journeys may take longer than usual. You may have to wait for some time at stations like London Waterloo, Vauxhall, Clapham Junction, Putney and Richmond to get onto trains once our Friday evening peak begins at 16:00.

In light of this, we strongly advise that you make alternative arrangements such as working flexibly, staggering working hours to travel earlier, taking annual leave, and swap to walking or cycling where possible on Friday.

We strongly advise spectators going to watch the match at Twickenham to avoid travelling during our Friday evening peak, which starts at 16:00, as our trains already operate at full capacity at this time. If you are attending the match on Friday 18 September please use the bespoke Spectator Journey Planner to make a game plan that gets you to Twickenham early.

The towns of Whitton, Strawberry Hill, St. Margarets and Twickenham will have a lively atmosphere, offer many "scrum"ptious places to eat, drink and relax and are all within a 30 minute walk of Twickenham Stadium. Why not travel to these places early and spend the late afternoon there to ensure you will be on time and won’t miss any of the opening ceremony.

I do like the advice for commuters on the Friday of the opening ceremony.

 

[island]

What bothers me is that FGW has blocked advances and reservations on all services to Cardiff Central before matches and from there afterwards.

 

[thenorthern]

Given that the Rugby World Cup starts next week in England and Wales I was wondering if there are any extra services or special services during the duration of the Rugby World Cup.

The IRB say more trains will be put on but given the size of the Rugby World Cup I can't see that many needing to be put on.

Does anyone know if anything else is happening?

 

[Gemz91]

East Coast are running a couple of direct services between Edinburgh (I think) and Leeds, I noticed on a poster but didn't really pay much attention to it.

 

[Thomas6187]

Northern, Virgin and EMT are appear to be running extra trains out of Manchester on the 10th October.

On the same day, in Manchester, is the Rugby League Grand Final at Old Trafford and big Boxing match at the Arena. That means that there will be about 140,000 sport fans in the city

 

[thenorthern]

Looking at the venues I can see most of them are football grounds so in real terms for the railways it is little more than a standard weekend when the football is on.

Had it been the football world cup then that would be another matter.

 

[Hadders]

I guess the usual matchday arrangements will take place in Cardiff when matches at the Millennium Stadium are being played.

I suspect additional services will run to Digby & Sowton as is normal for matches at Sandy Park.

 

[Bookd]

Although not a train there will be an express bus, signposted as a 'Rail Replacement Service' from Twickenham Stadium to Waterloo; this is presumably to take pressure off the SWT service. I have not seen if this is considered as a bus or train for ticketing purposes. I believe that SWT will also run extra trains where possible.

 

[lazydragon]

I did find it interesting on the Arriva Trains Wales posters promoting their services for the Rugby World Cup that the caption about 70% of services having seats available had an important asterisk (*not on rugby match days).

 

[centraluser]

Although not a train there will be an express bus, signposted as a 'Rail Replacement Service' from Twickenham Stadium to Waterloo; this is presumably to take pressure off the SWT service. I have not seen if this is considered as a bus or train for ticketing purposes. I believe that SWT will also run extra trains where possible.

There will be lots of buses queuing up on the A316. Once The passenger queues for Twickenham station start to build, supporters will be encouraged to take the buses to Central London, available to all.
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Chiltern will be running a generic (ie England / NFL type) train plan for the two matches at Wembley Stadium, pretty much business as usual.

Sunday 27th coincides with the Australia Uraguay match at Villa Park, so the first two Birmingham trains from Marylebone will be strengthened, which will help later with the Wembley match traffic, that has a much later KO time.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

There will be more Rugby League fans in Manchester than Union fans on the 10th aswell because union are using the council house

assuming a Wigan-Leeds final i can guess Northern will operate the Manchester-Wigan Expresses again like they did two years ago no idea if they did last year i was at the nrl grand final in Sydney

 

[CyrusWuff]

What bothers me is that FGW has blocked advances and reservations on all services to Cardiff Central before matches and from there afterwards.

Nothing unusual there, given they don't need to sell Advances to fill otherwise empty seats, as there won't be any! Similarly, with the queuing system after the match, the chances of getting on a booked train are slim at best, so they don't offer reservations.

 

[Hornet]

What bothers me is that FGW has blocked advances and reservations on all services to Cardiff Central before matches and from there afterwards.

I've been to many sell out Rugby Matches at the Millenium. I normally travel to Cardiff by Train but leave by National Express Coach. This affords me several advantages. Firstly I avoid the organised chaos that is the queuing system at the Station by strolling down to Cardiff Bay and having a bite to eat and a few pints. Once back at the Station I have a short wait for the late night coach to Heathrow Airport, which although full to Bristol, empties out there. Last time out for the Toulon v Sarries HC Final, the Coach had seven people on it departing Bristol. Also it's a lot cheaper for the Coach and I can avail of cheaper flights back to Dublin from Heathrow, than from Cardiff.

 

[hulabaloo]

There will be lots of buses queuing up on the A316. Once The passenger queues for Twickenham station start to build, supporters will be encouraged to take the buses to Central London, available to all.

Actually made good use of this last Saturday where the crowd was almost a full house. Got me back to Richmond tube in good time and avoided the usually horrendous mess which is Twickenham station after a match.

 

[infobleep]

When their was a friendly match recently at Twickenham, the car park at the station was closed to allow for queuing. This was a Saturday and no doubt standard practice.

In all the announcements asking people to not use the trains to Twickenham on the day the World Cup starts, I've not heard anything about the car park being closed. This day is a Friday when more people would be travelling to and from work. So is the car park being closed and if not, how are they going to deal with the queuing?

I actually wonder if it would have been better to start the world cup on a Saturday, which isn't a busy commuter day.

 

[Hornet]

I've never had a problem getting away from Twickenham. There are the free buses to Richmond Station from the road next to the North Car Park and free buses to Hounslow Bus Station just up from the Richmond Buses near the Roundabout. The H20 goes from the Tesco's by the Roundabout to Hounslow Central Tube and Whitton and Hounslow Stations are not that much of a walk. I've walked to Hounslow Bus Station in about 35 minutes in the past.

 

[GodAtum]

Unfortunately I am unable to be flexible in my commute so will have to brave the scrum of fans. I'll take a small hidden camera with me to film any rasict abuse if that happens.

 

[455driver]

What bothers me is that FGW has blocked advances and reservations on all services to Cardiff Central before matches and from there afterwards.

After matches is because of the queuing system in place meaning there is every possibility of missing the intended train.

Also Advances are to fill empty seats of which there will be none so why offer them?
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Unfortunately I am unable to be flexible in my commute so will have to brave the scrum of fans. I'll take a small hidden camera with me to film any rasict abuse if that happens.

Shoving a camera in peoples faces is just the sort of thing which p155es people off and causes racial abuse! :roll:

 

[infobleep]

After matches is because of the queuing system in place meaning there is every possibility of missing the intended train.

Also Advances are to fill empty seats of which there will be none so why offer them?

When the Olympics was on some rail companies issued special cheaper Olympic tickets, are any available to Cardiff; London or any of the other places holding the Rugby?

 

[thenorthern]

To be honest Rugby fans aren't too bad on trains and I think there shouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

[backontrack]

To be honest Rugby fans aren't too bad on trains and I think there shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The sports of Rugby and Football are so much differing too. Rugby players claim they're not injured when they are, whereas football players claim they are injured when they're not!
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I've never had a problem getting away from Twickenham.

It's getting away from Clapham Junction that's the problem...namely because it can't be done quickly enough!

 

[Hadders]

Unfortunately I am unable to be flexible in my commute so will have to brave the scrum of fans. I'll take a small hidden camera with me to film any rasict abuse if that happens.

It's rugby, not football. Supporters are trusted to sit with each other and drink beer together.

 

[hassaanhc]

I've never had a problem getting away from Twickenham. There are the free buses to Richmond Station from the road next to the North Car Park and free buses to Hounslow Bus Station just up from the Richmond Buses near the Roundabout. The H20 goes from the Tesco's by the Roundabout to Hounslow Central Tube and Whitton and Hounslow Stations are not that much of a walk. I've walked to Hounslow Bus Station in about 35 minutes in the past.

As usual, the world cup brings changes to the tried and tested plan! The shuttle service to Hounslow Bus Station (for Hounslow East Station) is changed to go to Hounslow Central instead. As it uses the normal TfL bus stops instead of somewhere off the main road (a conveniently placed lay-by is available), it causes long tailbacks and leads to delays to the normal service buses on the 120 :roll:.
The station building at Hounslow East is much larger, each platform is accessed by separate staircases, there are more ticket barriers, and lifts are available. Hounslow Central has an island platform accessed by a single staircase, there are less barriers and less room around them, and no lifts.

I wonder if for Friday the half hourly services to Twickenham via Brentford will be pointed out? Even in the evening peak these are less loaded than those via Richmond, even being almost empty towards the front, and after emptying out significantly at Putney (as all services do) they have a large amount of space (as long as they're at least 8 coaches that is).
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The sports of Rugby and Football are so much differing too. Rugby players claim they're not injured when they are, whereas football players claim they are injured when they're not!
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Which is so true That is something I hate a lot about football, especially as I'm used to cricket, where even an attempt at such behaviour would lead to the player being fined .

 

[WelshBluebird]

To be honest Rugby fans aren't too bad on trains and I think there shouldn't be too much of an issue.

It's rugby, not football. Supporters are trusted to sit with each other and drink beer together.

Clearly neither of you have been out in Cardiff after an international match then! The rugby "fans" are much worse! (especially as a large number attending a game at the Millenium stadium don't actually understand the game and just go for the p**s up!)

 

[RichmondCommu]

Shoving a camera in peoples faces is just the sort of thing which p155es people off and causes racial abuse! :roll:

When was there any suggestion that a camera would be shoved in anyone's face?

 

[313103]

To be honest Rugby fans aren't too bad on trains and I think there shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I dont know who you are trying to kid with that comment.

My experience of Rugby fans is somewhat different as originally as a Guard on the North London Line dealing with loads of abusive, drunk and load Rugby fans coming from Richmond after a game at Twickenham. Then there was the mess and vomit and occasional urine to be cleaned up. Never experienced it with football fans going to either of the following grounds Arsenal, Chelsea & QPR and occasionally Wembley.

This was reinforced when i moved to South Wales, some of the most aggressive people i come across are when they are either going to Cardiff or from when they just urinate everywhere or leave vomit for you to clear up.

I am not looking forward to the World Cup at all and will certainly not do any overtime whilst its on.

 

[Bevan Price]

When their was a friendly match recently at Twickenham, the car park at the station was closed to allow for queuing. This was a Saturday and no doubt standard practice.

In all the announcements asking people to not use the trains to Twickenham on the day the World Cup starts, I've not heard anything about the car park being closed. This day is a Friday when more people would be travelling to and from work. So is the car park being closed and if not, how are they going to deal with the queuing?

I actually wonder if it would have been better to start the world cup on a Saturday, which isn't a busy commuter day.

Big sporting events are timed for the convenience of TV companies, not people.

 

[CdBrux]

Big sporting events are timed for the convenience of TV companies, not people.

the TV companies who want that timing for the people who will watch their broadcasts!

 

[Greenback]

I have to agree with 313103. Certainly, travelling back from Cardiff with rugby fans after a big game can be unpleasant. They are not usually nasty people, but they can be very drunk, loud and obnoxious.

Many of the worse offenders aren't what I'd call real rugby fans, though, they've just used the sport as an excuse to have a day out and drink too much.

 

[Clip]

Big sporting events are timed for the convenience of TV companies, not people.

Well of course. The fact that it is a World Cup where large swathes of the teams who are near the top of the tree in Rugby happen to be on the other side of the world why wouldn't they want to show them at a time when they can actually watch them?