Plans to ease congestion during the Cheltenham Festival have been put in place by CrossCountry trains, the official travel partner of the event with a campaign to drive people off the roads and onto the trains.
Over the last three years of supporting the event, CrossCountry has helped to ease road congestion around Cheltenham by encouraging over 45,000 race-goers to switch to the train with the incentive of dedicated extra services.
With extra services running from Birmingham, Bristol and Derby as well as 94 regular services running into Cheltenham, CrossCountry is expecting to take almost 15,000 race-goers off the roads and on to a train over the four day event. Those travelling by train are also being advised to avoid queuing at Cheltenham Station by buying a ‘bus add on’ ticket online.
Local Jockey, Sam Thomas comments: “Cheltenham is a fantastic day for all getting there via the road network can take a long time. We are encouraging people to travel smart and take advantage of the extra services being put on for the festival.”
Available to buy online, a ‘bus add on’ can be bought at the same time as a train ticket, allowing passengers to hop straight on a dedicated Cheltenham bus transfer which runs directly from Cheltenham train station to the race course every 10 minutes.
‘Bus add on’ tickets are available to book online here in advance or up to three hours before you travel.
What a lot of rubbish. Cross Country can’t cope with the catastrophic overcrowding which occurs every day on their services, so how can they suddenly find the resource to cover the Cheltenham Festival?
Travelling to the Cheltenham Festivals should be easy and stress free. Hopefully something can be done!