Virgin Trains, sponsors of Preston North End, have apologised after it was confirmed that bank holiday engineering works will leave the club’s fans stranded in London following the League One play-off final on 24 May.
The match between Swindon Town and Preston, which kicks off at 5.30pm to avoid a clash with the day’s Premier League fixtures, has been dubbed “the Replacement Bus final” by supporters of both sides.
The engineering works mean there will be no trains from Swindon on the Great Western line while services from Preston will be disrupted by work on the West Coast line operated by Virgin.
Virgin, First Great Western and Network Rail have all apologised for the situation, with Network Rail saying that the engineering work was essential, had been planned well in advance, and could not be moved.
A Virgin spokesman said: “It’s unfortunate timing – and slightly embarrassing for us, bearing in mind our connections with Preston. But NR is carrying out maintenance work on the line between Preston and London and it will be shut down just north of Crewe and south of Rugby.
“We don’t have the option on the Sunday evening to put any further trains on, other than the one which is scheduled to come back to Manchester. And that won’t accommodate all the 3,000 or so fans we expect to want to travel by rail.
“So we are looking at what we can do on the Monday morning because the feedback we have had says a lot will be staying down for the night.”
FGW said: “There are no train services out of Swindon station on the day of the match. We will be running additional coach services from Swindon station to Reading, where you will be able to jump on to a fast service to London Paddington. Journey times between Swindon and London Paddington are expected to take two hours.
“Alternatively, if you travelling from the east of Swindon, we would recommend you go to Didcot Parkway where there will be two trains an hour into London Paddington.”
SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/14/virgin-trains-preston-play-off-final-trains