Details on trains to London for the Queen's lying in state and funeral

2022-09-14

Everything you need to know about catching the train to London to mourn the Queen as rails firm put on 200 extra services, run overnight trains to three stations and convert empty carriages into waiting areas

Southeastern, Chiltern Railways, Great Western Railway have confirmed they will all run overnight services
Transport for London’s Andy Byford says challenge of keeping capital moving is ‘bigger than the Olympics’
Network Rail warns of ‘unprecedented travel demand in the capital’ – and services will be ‘extremely busy’
Queen’s lying in state at Westminster Hall begins at 5pm today and runs 24 hours a day until next Monday
Full coverage: Click here to see all our coverage of the Queen’s passing

Trains will run through the night in and out of London from tonight to help mourners visiting the capital to pay their respects to the Queen over the coming days, with around 200 daily rail services added to timetables.

Operators such as Southeastern, Chiltern Railways, Great Western Railway confirmed they will all run overnight services to and from London Victoria, Marylebone and Paddington stations respectively in the next few days.

And mourners waiting for the next departure in the early hours of the morning are expected to be invited to sit on stationary trains at stations such as Charing Cross, Euston, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington and Victoria.

Network Rail warned visitors of ‘unprecedented travel demand in the capital’ while Transport for London commissioner Andy Byford said the challenge of keeping the capital moving would be ‘bigger than the Olympics’.

The Queen’s lying in state at Westminster Hall opens to the public later today at 5pm and up to 350,000 mourners are expected to pass through 24 hours a day until 6.30am next Monday – the day of the late monarch’s funeral.

Southeastern will run overnight services every two hours from today until next Monday from Victoria to Dartford, Gillingham, Orpington and Ashford; Charing Cross to Orpington and Tunbridge Wells; and St Pancras to Ashford.

Chiltern will operate two additional overnight trains every day until Monday from Oxford to Marylebone, leaving at 1.35am and arriving at 3am; then a return journey leaving Marylebone at 3.15am and arriving at Oxford at 4.38am.

Great Western Railway said extra services in the very early morning and late evening will be laid on next Monday to take people towards London and back home again. It added that all services ‘are expected to be extremely busy’.

The extra trains are now being displayed on journey planners such as Trainline, but a rail industry source warned that the limited number of overnight services means they are ‘not something people should be relying on’.

There is likely to be further strain on the rail network because London Victoria Coach Station will be shut next Monday due to many of the roads around it being closed – with National Express switching services to Wembley.

A message from Network Rail in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II is displayed at London Waterloo station last Friday

Commuters pass beneath a tribute image of the Queen at King’s Cross St Pancras London Underground station on Saturday

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is displayed on an advertising board at Wimbledon station in South West London on Saturday

Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Edward visit London Paddington railway station to open the Elizabeth line on May 17

The late monarch’s lying in state at Westminster Hall opens to the public later today at 5pm and mourners will pass through 24 hours a day until it closes at 6.30am next Monday – the day of the Queen’s state funeral.

People will also be packing the streets of London today to see a procession taking the late monarch from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, which will begin at 2.22pm. Viewing areas for the public along the route opened at 11am, with large crowds expected, and the procession is set to arrive at Westminster Hall at 3pm.

How it will cost more than £150 for a return next Monday to London from Edinburgh or Newcastle

Here are the cheapest return tickets to London for the day of the Queen’s state funeral, next Monday.

These fares are for direct trains arriving before 10am, and leaving after 5pm, checked on Trainline today.

Edinburgh to London King’s Cross – £158 (advance singles)
Newcastle to London King’s Cross – £152 (advance singles)
Glasgow to London Euston – £148.60 (advance singles)
Leeds to London King’s Cross – £122.60 (advance singles)
York to London King’s Cross – £122.60 (advance singles)
Plymouth to London Paddington – £113.10 (super off-peak return)
Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston – £98.10 (off-peak return)
Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston – £98.10 (off-peak return)
Cardiff to London Paddington – £89 (super off-peak return)
Hull to London King’s Cross – £91 (off-peak return)
Sheffield to London St Pancras – £87 (super off-peak return)
Bournemouth to London Waterloo – £68.30 (super off-peak return)
Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington – £67.20 (super off-peak return)
Norwich to London Liverpool Street – £62.10 (off-peak return)
Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone – £34.40 (super off-peak return)

Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras – £251.50 (standard fares)
Brussels Midi to London St Pancras – £312 (standard fares)
Amsterdam Central to London St Pancras – £391.80 (standard fares)

Avanti West Coast said it is running up to four additional services a day in each direction between London and Manchester up to and including this Friday, adding a total of around 16,000 seats to its capacity.

The firm said it is ‘examining closely what opportunities there are for additional services’ on Saturday and Sunday. It has operated a reduced timetable in recent weeks due to drivers refusing to work overtime shifts.

Over the summer, under-fire Avanti was forced to cut services between Manchester and London down from three trains an hour to just one, with the blame from bosses having fallen on ‘staffing issues’.

Ticket retailer Trainline said it has recorded a 53 per cent increase in bookings for journeys to London next Monday compared with the same day this week.

Modern Railways reported that major London stations will remain open through the night over the coming days, and mourners are expected to be invited to sit in stationary trains at stations such as Charing Cross, Euston, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington and Victoria while they wait for the next departure.

And Transport for London’s boss said it is facing the ‘biggest event and challenge’ in its history as more than one million people are expected to travel to the centre of the capital to pay their respects to the Queen.

Mr Byford, the organisation’s commissioner, said that planning for the Queen’s lying in state and funeral is more complicated than the 2012 Olympics as it is ‘impossible’ to accurately predict crowd sizes.

TfL is ‘used to dealing with big crowds’ and will take measures such as temporarily restricting access to the busiest Tube stations and directing passengers to other stations to ‘spread the load’, he said.

Mr Byford added that the situation is being managed ‘minute by minute’ from a command centre alongside other agencies and Government departments.

He also told the Evening Standard: ‘We are absolutely fully focused on this. I’m deploying every possible resource. I’m going to say it’s bigger than the Olympics – it’s the Olympics but with so many potential unknowns.’

Underground stations near Buckingham Palace have seen a surge in passenger numbers since the Queen died last Thursday.

TfL figures show more than 19,000 people started or finished journeys at Hyde Park Corner station on Tuesday, which was double the total on the same day last week.

Green Park has been made an exit only station to prevent overcrowding.

Across the Tube network as a whole, TfL recorded 2.99million journeys on Tuesday, up 8 per cent compared with a week earlier.

Mr Byford said: ‘The most recent approximation or estimate is that there will be around potentially up to 750,000 people in the queue for lying in state, which is itself a huge number.

‘But then if you take the whole 10-day mourning period and the various events that happen during that – obviously some happened elsewhere – but even the London element of that, we are talking well north of a million people.

Motorway roadworks paused to ease congestion for mourners

Planned closures of motorways serving London have been paused until after the Queen’s funeral, it has been announced.

National Highways said the decision will reduce congestion as large numbers of people travel to and from the capital to pay their respects to Her Majesty.

Affected motorways include the M25, M11, M3, M4 and M23. The Queen’s funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey next Monday.

All other closures on the motorway network will be postponed during the bank holiday weekend.

National Highways also said existing roadworks will be removed ‘where possible’, with cones and temporary signs withdrawn from 6am on Friday until the following Tuesday.

A planned closure of the southbound M6 between junctions 33 and 32 north of Preston, Lancashire, will be among those postponed.

John McNeill, head of service delivery in the east of England for National Highways, said: ‘We expect the roads to be busy with people looking to travel into the capital and to other royal residences over the weekend.

‘Our traffic officer patrols will be out on the network to help anyone who might get into difficulty, but it’s important people remember to check their vehicle before setting off.

‘The last thing anybody wants on the way to their destination is to have a vehicle breakdown. That’s why it’s really important that people spend a few minutes checking the condition of their tyres before setting off.’

‘So this is huge. This is the biggest event and challenge that TfL has faced in its history, and we must rise to that challenge.

‘The Olympics was a huge logistical challenge and operational challenge for TfL, which the company executed in magnificent fashion. But this is different.

‘With something like the Olympics, you know what the events are, where they are, and you know what the numbers will be because it’s ticketed.

‘This is more challenging. It’s over a long period and although there are estimates, it is impossible to say with certainty how many people will turn up to the various elements, so we’ve assumed the highest possible number and we’re aligning our service to match that.’

A special service will run on the Elizabeth line railway between Paddington and Abbey Wood on Sunday to ease the pressure on other parts of London’s transport network.

That section of the line – which was opened by the Queen in May – is usually closed on Sundays due to testing and software updates.

Mr Byford added: ‘We have recruited literally an army of people from across TfL. We’ve cancelled non-essential meetings. I’ve asked everyone to step up, I’ve asked everyone to volunteer, and the response has been fantastic.

‘We’ve dropped everything in order to pull out all the stops and send Her Majesty off in style with an excellent transport offering.

Network Rail, the Rail Delivery Group and Transport for London have said they are working closely together along with the Government and all other organisations involved to help people get around the capital in the coming days.

They have urged passengers to plan journeys using real-time travel information and said there could be short-notice temporary Underground station closures.

Bosses also said that given the likely demand on public transport within London, passengers may could also find that walking to their final destinations within the capital could be a better option.

The Underground will run as normal, but some stations will be busier than usual, and ‘some short-term safety measures such as queuing, closures, non-stopping trains or changes to the way customers enter or exit a station may be necessary’.

Passengers have been told to avoid Green Park station if possible, due to the high numbers of customers passing through. People were advised that other Tube stations such as Victoria, Piccadilly Circus and St James’s Park are within a short walking distance of Buckingham Palace.

Crowds start queuing on The Mall at Buckingham Palace this morning to watch the Queen’s procession to Westminster Hall

Members of the public in Whitehall today ahead of the ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II

Crowds gather along The Mall today ahead of the ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II this afternoon

Transport bosses also said that some bus services will be diverted or will stop short of their destination due to road closures, and some may be running a reduced service.

Sir Peter Hendy, chair of Network Rail said: ‘The transport industry is working hard to help people pay their respects in London and across the United Kingdom.

‘Please make sure you check before you travel as we expect the road and transport networks to be busy.’

Meanwhile, National Highways announced it has paused planned closures of motorways serving London until after the funeral, to reduce congestion.

Affected motorways include the M25, M11, M3, M4 and M23. All other closures on England’s motorway network will be postponed during the bank holiday weekend.

National Highways also said existing roadworks will be removed ‘where possible’, with cones and temporary signs withdrawn from 6am on Friday until the following Tuesday.

A planned closure of the southbound M6 between junctions 33 and 32 north of Preston, Lancashire, will be among those postponed.

‘Our traffic officer patrols will be out on the network to help anyone who might get into difficulty, but it’s important people remember to check their vehicle before setting off.

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