FA Cup semi-final travel hell as train company shuts down Wembley Stadium route
The FA Cup semi-finals will be held at Wembley next weekend, with Aston Villa facing Crystal Palace and Manchester City taking on Nottingham Forest though fans face problems travelling to the games
Aston Villa fans have been warned to expect travel hell for next Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace. Villa and Palace will meet at Wembley for the chance to play either Nottingham Forest or Manchester City in the final.
The vast majority of Villa fans will be travelling down from Birmingham. But Chiltern Railways have now informed supporters that they have decided to shut down their Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone on the day of Villa's semi-final.
The company normally operates two trains an hour between those stations, with customers able to change along the line for services to Wembley Stadium. That route will not be in operation on 26 April though.
In fact, Chiltern will only be running services from Warwick Parkway for the duration of the day. That means there will also be no services from Solihull, Dorridge, Lapworth, Hatton and Warwick.
Chiltern have also announced the Stratford Upon Avon line will be replaced with a rail replacement bus service to provide more trains from Warwick Parkway. The company have insisted the changes mean they can provide an 'enhanced service', though did urge those travelling from Birmingham to use other operators.
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"This means no Chiltern Railways train services will operate from Birmingham Moor Street, Solihull, Dorridge, Lapworth, Hatton or Warwick for the entire day. For Aston Villa fans to make the kick off time of 17.15, there are two options by rail of getting to Wembley from the region.
"Chiltern Railways will operate direct services from Warwick Parkway to Wembley Stadium. Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway will operate services from Birmingham New Street to London Euston, where supporters can get onward travel to Wembley."
Chiltern have also urged fans that return travel from Wembley after the game will be extremely difficult. Instead, supporters have been told to extend their stay in the capital until at least Sunday before journeying back to the Midlands.
"As the kick off time is 17.15, return travel is expected to be limited and extremely busy. From 19.30 until the end of the day, there will be ten direct services from Wembley Stadium to Warwick Parkway," Chiltern added.
"If the match goes into extra time and penalties, there will be eight direct services from Wembley Stadium to Warwick Parkway after 20.00. Other operators’ services will also be limited from London Euston.
"Customers may wish to consider extending their stay to the following day at the risk of a late evening finish and extremely limited rail services back to the West Midlands. Services will be much busier than usual, so please allow plenty of time to make your journey.
"Finalised timetables for services operated by Chiltern Railways have not yet been loaded to online journey planners. We anticipate journey planners being accurate after 17 April 2025."
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