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Champions League final: More trains to avoid 'embarrassment'

Champions League football fans have been promised 21 post-match high speed trains from Cardiff to "avoid the embarrassment" of a repeat of the Rugby World Cup travel chaos.

About 60,000 travellers are expected to pass through Cardiff Central station following the 3 June showpiece.

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said Wales had "learned lessons" after an inquiry into the long delays in 2015.

The Welsh Government has "taken on board" the risk of reputational damage.

Wales also wants to bid to European football's governing body Uefa for a second Champions League final if this one is a success.

"If we deliver the Champions League well and Uefa are content, it will place us in a good position to bid for the final again," Mr Skates told the BBC.

Rugby supporters queued for up to four hours after the Ireland v Canada World Cup game in September 2015 and Great Western Railway apologised for underestimating passenger numbers.

(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/7E01/production/_86975223_rwcwalesfiji.jpg)

Rugby fans queued for up to four hours following one Rugby World Cup game in Cardiff in 2015

"The scale of activity for the Champions League final is unprecedented and travel management logistics are on a different scale," said Mr Skates.

"There will be 15,000 more passenger spaces post-match than was at the Rugby World Cup, that is a huge increase in the number of places on trains.

"We're also going to have significant increase in capacity for trains to other parts of the UK where we know people are going to be staying such as Birmingham and Bristol."

"In terms of rail and the need to avoid any embarrassment, there is a joint working group involving all of the rail operators and Network Rail."

Real Madrid and Juventus are in commanding positions to reach the final after beating Atletico Madrid and Monaco respectively in the first leg of the semi-finals.
Media caption200 million will watch Champions League final from Cardiff

Network Rail said it was "fully on board" and the Welsh Government has been promised there will be no network disruptions or upgrade work taking place to minimise the risk of delays.

Bruce Williamson of Railway campaign group Railfuture said: "The reputational damage not having the required transport capacity after such a major international sporting event could be huge and extremely detrimental to Wales.

"We're glad Wales is placing so much emphasis on railway journeys and we hope, for their sake, they have learned from their mistakes as it could counter-productive to attracting more major events in the future."

As well as rail passengers, an estimated 25,000 people are expected to fly in and out of airports in Cardiff, Birmingham and Bristol.

Also, about 1,250 coaches will bring passengers in and out of Cardiff on 3 June.

I understand that 3rd June "Weymouth Wizard" is to be loco hauled.  What loco not yet know. 

Is it too much to hope for a 37?!

Or how about 20227?

Probably a 67 or pair of them?

Best post you've ever made, Chris B !

Great that there will be so many extra trains into London; but what about on from London to the various airports?

Traditionally the Champions League Final, especially if staged in the UK and not between UK-based teams supports a massive airlift, and I'm sure that's how a lot of the fans will travel - the well-heeled/corporate ones in fleets of private aircraft, the rest in chartered aircraft of all sizes.

When it was last held at Wembley, between 2 German teams in 2013, the "smaller" London Airports (Luton and Stansted) were full to bursting.

Cardiff Airport is well used to the 6 Nations Rugby airlifts, but this will be a lot bigger.

I understand that 3rd June "Weymouth Wizard" is to be loco hauled.  What loco not yet know. 

DBS providing drivers, Top and Tail 67s on 11 coaches according to the train planners in Swindon. 6 coaches locked out of use on the run to Weymouth, but all in use on it's later run between Cardiff and Paddington.

I understand that 3rd June "Weymouth Wizard" is to be loco hauled.  What loco not yet know.

So how many coaches do you think would be needed?

The Champions League Final is one of the greatest non-international sporting events on the planet.

Not resourcing the logistical arrangements (including transport) adequately would reflect badly on the whole country.......for once, GWR seem to be on the front foot and that's a really positive thing and hopefully an indication of lessons learned and future performance.

I'm sorry, but if it means you have to catch another train or make alternative arrangements to get to the seaside just this once, it's a pretty small price to pay.

Since the schools haven't broken up for summer yet the loadings on the Pembroke Coast Express and friend might not be all that heavy yet, some weekends in previous years when I've taken a look I think the number of passengers on the Pembroke services MIGHT have been able to fit on a class 150, but sometimes 5 of the eight mark 3 coaches are needed. All depends on what the weather is like next weekend, the sunny Saturdays seem to be far busier. Either way, I don't think it is right to leave gaps of over four hours in what is normally a 2-hourly timetable, especially since ATW's paper timetable shows the GW services. What happens if pepole turn up for the Pembroke Coast express and find that there is no train and no replacement road transport either?

both ATW and GWR have been warning people of the potential for changes on the 3rd for weeks now. Even the paper timetable for West Wales highlights the potential for disruption that weekend very clearly (albeit a bit Cardiff focused). If it happens to be a sunny Saturday and a few people can't have an afternoon on the beach then, well, so be it.

08:05 Cardiff Central to Fareham due 11:35

Facilities on the 08:05 Cardiff Central to Fareham due 11:35.
Service full and standing from Cardiff Central. There are no reservations on this service throughout.

No loco at all, possibly no coaches either. Either way; you're not going anywhere. I just asked the GWR mixing deck journey planner for Bristol-Weymouth (with no changes of train) on June 3rd and I cannot see the Weymouth Wizard there at all.

From Bristol, the 08:39 is followed by the 09:49, the Weymouth Wizard is missing.
Leaving Weymouth, there is nothing shown between 16:08 and 18:28, not even a rail-replacement road service.

The Pembroke Coast Express and associated intercity stopper services to/from Pembroke Dock have similarly vanished without a trace on June 3rd. If they need the IC125s for the match traffic then fair enough cancel these summer specials, but would you agree that not putting on replacement road transport is unacceptable?

The absence of any comment about the travel arrangements leaves me to believe that everything must have gone relatively smoothly last night.  In which case I think everyone concerned can take some pride at the way the railway rallied around to support the event and ensure no adverse publicity. Let's hope UEFA were suitably impressed to give Cardiff another opportunity in a few years time.

I suggested to you on another Forum that your gripe re the Pembroke Dock services should be with GWR and that as well as mentioning it on a Forum where it would go nowhere, you should ask or complain to GWR.  Just wondering if you did it.