Chiltern Railways says a big thank you to commuters
Chiltern Railways has revealed that 797,000 people travelled into London on their services during the Games, thanks to significant changes to the timetable to meet the rise in demand. As a result, thousands of passengers were able to travel to the capital and be part of the greatest sporting event in the world.
The train operator created a bespoke timetable, working with the Olympic Development Authority to identify potential travel hot spots, so that visitors could experience the Games. In an unprecedented move, they also dramatically overhauled the train maintenance schedule to allow more trains to be in use.
They ran additional off peak services and late night trains in and out of London every day. This included a late night service at 0230hrs on the night of the opening ceremony.
There were also early morning and late night trains on Sundays for passengers travelling to and from the capital.
Over the two week period, the train operator:
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• provided over 238,000 extra seats
• transported 39,000 passengers to nine Wembley events over eight days
• added 13 customer information screens at stations, in partnership with Network Rail
• ran 360 extra trains by changing our maintenance plans with 95% of their trains running on time
Social media also played an important role in providing passengers with up to date travel information and addressing any questions in real time. During the Games, Chiltern Railways extended their Twitter hours to provide an extra 150 hours support and sent over 3,000 tweets.
Rob Brighouse, Managing Director at Chiltern Railways, said: “I would like to thank our passengers for their support during the Games. Their cooperation ensured that we were able to deliver the best service possible to the people that travelled with us and successfully play our part in the 2012 Games. I am proud that our team was able to help make the Games a memorable experience for visitors.”
“With the Paralympics, our services may be busier than usual. With your help and continued support we know we can deliver another successful service.”