Royal wedding travel running smoothly
The first royal wedding special departed on time at 5.50am from Britain’s busiest station, London Waterloo, destination Windsor.
Andy Mellors, the managing director of South Western Railway, was there to see off the well-wishers heading for the celebration.
The service was “full and standing” in railway parlance, with more passengers than seats, but the atmosphere was convivial.
Carlton Bernard, 73, a retired railway worker, said: “It’s something I always look forward to. The last wedding in London, I was there.
“I’m going to see how close I can get. I don’t have any plans beyond that.”
The train operator has laid on twice as many trains as normal from Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside station. It has urged passengers to start their journeys early.
A day return on the route costs £14.70.
South Western Railway has warned: “With large numbers of people expected, there may be restricted travel into Windsor for the safety and security of everyone.”
The possibility has been mooted that passengers could be told to leave the train at Staines, the last big station before Windsor, if crowds for the wedding built up.
Some passengers using the other route from London to Windsor, from Paddington with a change of train at Slough, face problems due to engineering work on the Circle and District lines of the Underground.
But when they reach Slough, the train for the six-minute journey to Windsor has been named the Harry & Meghan Express by the train operator, GWR.
The destination station has become “Harry & Meghan Central” for the day. A giant picture of the couple made from 65,000 pieces of Lego is on the concourse; the Legoland theme park is just outside Windsor.
When the royal procession finishes at around 1.30pm it is expected that tens of thousands of well-wishers will want to leave simultaneously.
“A queuing system will be in place at both Windsor stations,” passengers are warned.
