Rugby World Cup - underestimated number of fans

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Tweets this morning (may now be on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news feed) concerning severe overcrowding & failure to board trains towards Cardiff for the Irish game this afternoon.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) twitter apologising for underestimating the number of fans....not a presigious start

[John R]

The FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website says that "Due to overcrowding because of a sporting event between London Paddington and Cardiff Central trains have to run at reduced speed on the line."

Now apart from the somewhat (if not very) pedantic point that the sporting event is in Cardiff and not between London and Cardiff, why do trains have to run at reduced speed because of the overcrowding?

[ChrisB]

Some pics on social media do show trains absolutely rammed to the doors.

[Adelante_CCT]

3 extra hsts from Pad on top of the hourly Swanseas and 3 extra loco hauled services from Pad, and an extra hourly service from Bristol. Also I see the 10:15 from Pad to Cheltenham was diverted to Cardiff as well. So there certainly was a lot more running to Cardiff than normal.

[LiskeardRich]

Sell out crowds for a world cup match, what were they expecting?

Even Tonga against Georgia (two lesser teams) at Gloucester in the lunch time game was sell out.

There are 3 games at Exeter, all of which are sell out crowds- Sandy Park has had its capacity increased for the world cup, so will be numbers that wont have been experienced in Exeter previously.

[bobm]

The 10:15 from London Paddington to Cheltenham was terminated at Swindon to form an additional service to Cardiff Central.

[hoover50]

3 extra hsts from Pad on top of the hourly Swanseas and 3 extra loco hauled services from Pad, and an extra hourly service from Bristol. Also I see the 10:15 from Pad to Cheltenham was diverted to Cardiff as well. So there certainly was a lot more running to Cardiff than normal.

I wonder how well utilised the relief services were, given they were not advertised to the general public?

[didcotdean]

I suspect the travel pattern of the spectators for this match has been rather different from the Wales v England ones that they are used to. Seems people travelled later in a more compressed time period, and then more didn't want to hang around a bit in Cardiff afterwards. Signalling won't have helped though.

[phile]

3 extra hsts from Pad on top of the hourly Swanseas and 3 extra loco hauled services from Pad, and an extra hourly service from Bristol. Also I see the 10:15 from Pad to Cheltenham was diverted to Cardiff as well. So there certainly was a lot more running to Cardiff than normal.

I wonder how well utilised the relief services were, given they were not advertised to the general public?

Full and standing

[ChrisB]

Ooooh, another subtle change with the new branding....

Journeycheck currently referring to "overcrowding", rather than simply 'crowding'! Admission at last

[Timmer]

Ooooh, another subtle change with the new branding....

Journeycheck currently referring to "overcrowding", rather than simply 'crowding'! Admission at last

Good, just call it for what it is.

Not been a good start for Rugby fans travelling by rail these past two days. To be fair to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), I don't think that there was much more they could have done without seriously affecting other routes by pulling stock to run even more services or strengthening others to Cardiff.

Of course the public think a train company has a magic cupboard that they can pull lots of trains from at times of major events.

[ChrisB]

Agreed, so why not try & educate these World Cup-only fans that they might want to travel outside the hour either side of the game for comfort? I saw no advertising....

[LiskeardRich]

Agreed, so why not try & educate these World Cup-only fans that they might want to travel outside the hour either side of the game for comfort? I saw no advertising....

Fans were being unable to board at Bristol parkway as early as 0930. The game didn't kick off until 1430.

With Cardiff from my experience of match days is that a lot of fans go into Cardiff early, the main benefit of the stadium being in the city centre is it draws fans. Atmosphere in the city centre pre match is always fantastic in Cardiff.

Stadiums such as twickenham where there isn't a lot in the surrounding area people turn up closer to the game.

[Rhydgaled]

Of course the public think a train company has a magic cupboard that they can pull lots of trains from at times of major events.

3 extra hsts from Pad on top of the hourly Swanseas and 3 extra loco hauled services from Pad, and an extra hourly service from Bristol. Also I see the 10:15 from Pad to Cheltenham was diverted to Cardiff as well. So there certainly was a lot more running to Cardiff than normal.

Looks like FirstGW really did have a magic cupboard today. 3 extra IC125 services I can understand since the weekend timetable doesn't have the 2tph to Cardiff (one of which continues to Swansea) suggesting some sets are available at weekends (and it isn't summer so those sets aren't working summer Saturday extras) but where did they find extra 'west fleet' units for extra Bristol-Cardiff services?

Where was the LHCS^▸ (Locomotive Hauled Coaching Stock) sourced from and what 'flavour' was it?

[The Tall Controller]

I believe fans buying tickets from the RWC Official were advised to travel outside 'peak demand' hours when purchasing and were also invited/required to enter in their travel plans. The Fanfests are open to anyone which can alter numbers travelling.