Bank Holiday Platinum Jubilee travel chaos looms

Platinum Jubilee revellers are facing rail chaos as half of London-bound train operators say services will be disrupted over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Thousands of people will visit the capital between June 2 and June 5 for a series of celebrations marking the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.

But passengers have been warned to “check before you travel” as nine of the 16 rail firms managing the main routes into London are blighted by engineering works.

It has sparked fury and fears that some royal fans will face lengthy delays or be stranded.

Southern, the main south-east operator, is running no direct services on June 4 between Reigate and London Victoria, London Bridge and Beckenham Junction, or between East Croydon, Clapham Junction and Watford Junction.

It will affect many heading into London stations for the long-planned Platinum Party at the Palace – which will attract 22,000 people on the Mall and thousands more elsewhere – and the Derby at Epsom Downs.

Other services in the area are likely to be extremely busy as a result. In other areas, such as between Reigate and Redhill in Surrey, far slower replacement bus services will be used.

Meanwhile, arterial operator London Northwestern Railway will not run any early morning services between Milton Keynes Central and London Euston on June 5, the day of the eagerly anticipated Platinum Jubilee Pageant outside Buckingham Palace.

Across these and the seven other London-bound rail companies facing Jubilee disruption – Southeastern, Great Northern, Great Western Railway, East Midlands Railway, LNER, c2c and Greater Anglia – there are nearly 40 cases of buses replacing trains over the weekend.

Another key London stretch affected is between Lewisham and Hayes, where engineering work means all Southeastern services over the four-day festivities will be replaced by buses instead.

Paul Tuohy, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Many more people now travel at weekends and Network Rail has to move with the times and reassess when it carries out planned engineering works, not just to avoid disrupting millions of rail passengers’ journeys but also to prevent yet another summer of gridlock on the roads.”

Network Rail, which is responsible for engineering works, insists “the vast majority of Britain’s railway will be open as usual” for the Platinum Jubilee, with “little major engineering work undertaken”.

However, Network Rail has warned travellers to check for closures and disruption before leaving home. It says “large crowds are expected” in the evenings of Jubilee events when much of the engineering works will be taking place.

It has prompted a backlash from some passengers. One told the organisation on Twitter:

Another added:

Great Western Railway has warned of late-night engineering works affecting routes in six places over the weekend – including four on June 2 – which coincide with Trooping the Colour in Horse Guards Parade. Bus replacement services will operate on the evening of June 4 between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central.

On LNER’s East Coast Mainline route, engineering work around Wakefield will mean the popular 10pm service from King’s Cross to Leeds will terminate at Doncaster.

Other routes are facing diversions and early morning closures. The Platinum Jubilee schedule also includes a service of thanksgiving for the Queen’s reign in St Paul’s Cathedral on June 3, as well as Big Jubilee Lunches drawing 10 million people across Britain on June 5.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “The rail industry has deliberately scaled back engineering works over the Jubilee weekend, meaning all routes into London are open for passengers to join the celebrations. A very small number of the works taking place will impact passenger journeys, and there are good transport alternatives where this is the case.”