Royal Wedding 2018 and FA Cup final: travel plans in turmoil for thousands facing TfL Tube, London Overground and DLR shutdowns

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry in Windsor on May 19... when Chelsea take on Man Utd at Wembley
Dick Murray29 April 2018

Thousands of people heading to the royal wedding and the FA Cup Final face travel woe with major shutdowns of the Tube, Docklands Light Railway and London Overground.

The wedding and the final, between Chelsea and Manchester United at Wembley , both take place on Saturday, May 19.

Scores of events are taking place across London over the weekend of May 19 and 20 to celebrate Harry and Meghan’s big day, and the government has urged all those travelling to Windsor to use public transport.

But the District and Circle lines will both be closed throughout that weekend.

There will also be shutdowns on parts of the London Overground to allow engineering work to go ahead.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend Stephen Lawrence Memorial

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And early travellers to Windsor on Friday, May 18 using South Western Railway (SWR) from Waterloo face disruption because of a 24-hour strike by RMT train guards.

Mayor Sadiq Khan has refused demands to suspend the engineering work and keep the lines open.

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly and deputy chair of the transport committee, said: “If the Mayor wants to send out the message that London is open he should have the good sense to ensure that these closures do not go ahead that weekend.

“The weekend of 19 and 20 May will be a very special weekend for the capital, with a London team in the FA Cup Final and many people coming to London to take part in events across the capital celebrating the royal wedding.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle

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Ms Pidgeon added: “On such an important weekend of sport and celebration it is a great shame that poor planning and co-ordination by Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail (NR) runs the risk of creating so much disruption and inconvenience for Tube and rail travellers.”

The District line, one of the busiest on the network, will be shut all weekend from South Kensington and Edgware Road to Ealing Broadway, Richmond and Wimbledon.

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There will be no Circle line service between Aldgate and Edgware Road via Victoria.

On the Sunday there will be no Bakerloo line service Queen’s Park to Harrow & Wealdstone. There will be no Docklands Light Railway service all weekend between Canary Wharf and Stratford.

On London Overground there will be no service all weekend between Willesden to Clapham Junction.

On the Sunday there will be no services between Euston to Watford Junction, Surrey Quay’s to Clapham Junction, Surrey Quays to New Cross (after 8.45pm) or between Highbury & Islington and Shadwell (after 9.15pm.)

In contrast SWR will be increasing the number of wedding day trains between Waterloo and Windsor.

Services are expected to be extremely busy with queuing systems in place at key stations.

Nigel Holness, London Underground’s Director of Network Operations, said: “The vast majority of our services will be running as normal on the weekend of 19/20 May, helping everyone enjoy the royal wedding and the FA Cup Final.

“There are some closures on the District and Circle lines due to essential upgrade work and on London Overground due to Network Rail track work. I advise customers to check their best route by using our website and social media channels for live traffic news and service updates.”

An NR spokesperson said: “We have been working closely with train operators and the police in the lead-up to the Royal Wedding.

“We have no planned engineering works taking place on routes to Windsor and will have extra staff on hand at Paddington, Waterloo and Reading stations.”

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