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Transport for London warns of huge crowds on Coronation weekend – and here’s what they’re doing about it

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Government plans for a major reform of Britain's railways are "not on track," with billions in potential savings at risk, the UK spending watchdog has warned.
Government plans for a major reform of Britain's railways are "not on track," with billions in potential savings at risk, the UK spending watchdog has warned.

Service providers such as Transport for London which operates the tube and bus network in the Capital have warned of huge central London crowds between 6 and 8 May over the bank holiday weekend.

Extra train services are being laid on for the King’s coronation weekend, but the transport operation will not match the scale of arrangements made for the late Queen’s funeral.

Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers are expected to travel to the centre of London on the day of the ceremony, Saturday 6 May, and around 10,000 people will attend the coronation concert at Windsor Castle on the following day.

Great Western Railway said it will run some “very early” additional services to London Paddington from major stations in south Wales, south-west England and the Thames Valley area on 6 May.

It will also operate an “enhanced service” between Windsor and Slough on 7 May and in the early hours of 8 May for concert attendees.

South Western Railway said it will run its usual timetable on the day of the coronation service, but there will be additional trains between London Waterloo and Windsor for the King’s coronation concert at Windsor.

Travelling to and from the coronation

Govia Thameslink Railway – which operates Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink – said its services will have more carriages than normal on 6 May. There are no planned engineering works affecting lines serving London or Windsor over that weekend.

Transport for London said its services may be “very busy” at “key transport interchanges” such as tube stations around Westminster and those with connections to mainline trains.

Many train companies, however, are not planning to enhance their operations for the weekend, as much of the additional passenger demand is expected to come from within the South East.

That means the transport operation will be slimmed down when compared to the scale of changes made to facilitate journeys at the time of the late Queen’s funeral in September last year, when around 250 extra train services ran, including some overnight.

In September, major stations in London were kept open overnight to provide shelter for mourners waiting for trains home.

Press Association – Neil Lancefield