As anticipation mounted for the Hull Kingston Rovers (Hull KR) Challenge Cup Final, Hull Trains led the way by carrying over 3,000 fans southbound for the action, and a considerable number of journeys northbound for both the Hull City FC home game and Humber Street Sesh, resulting in a record number of journeys onboard the local train operator’s services. 

Being a smaller Open Access train operator, Hull Trains quickly focused their resources on doing all it could to provide extra capacity on board its trains between Hull Paragon Station and London Kings Cross and worked to boost their seat availability by 33% compared to an average Saturday utilising all five of their bi-mode trains. 

Hull Trains are proud to have been able to increase their capacity in a short space of time, with an already busy weekend due to other events taking place in the capital. The rail operator quickly brought in their fifth train, working with Hitachi and Network Rail to provide further options for Hull KR fans to travel.

This included adding five additional carriages on the 08:24 from Hull and 19:48 from London to offer 327 extra seats in each direction. Additionally, two special services were added at 08:32 from Hull and 20:27 from London specifically for Hull KR fans travelling without seat reservations.

Despite not getting the result everyone hoped for at the Rugby, fans benefitted from the additional carriages and services which provided extra space on board and ensured everyone could both make it to Wembley for kick-off and return home.

The weekend had added challenges, which included overrunning engineering works resulting in extra customers using Hull Trains and some services being particularly busy, the Hull Trains team did their very best to ensure all customers got moved.

Louise Mendham, Service Delivery Director for Hull Trains, explained: “We knew this was going to be an exceptionally busy weekend for our services already with Humber Street Sesh and Sheffield United playing, and then Hull KR reached the finals at Wembley which bolstered our Saturday bookings. 

“We are huge supporters of the club both as a business and many of our team personally, so it was vital that we could do all we could to play our part in supporting our home city and provide extra capacity on those key services to and from the capital to both ensure fans could get to the game but also keep our leisure travellers moving with minimal disruption. 

“Although the Rugby didn’t finish as we hoped for, we were able to carry all of the 3,000 fans booked with us there and back through the strengthened 10-carriage and extra services that we ran. It was certainly a win for team Hull Trains, and I’d like to put on record our huge thanks and appreciation for all of our team who made the weekend possible, and to our customers who choose to travel with us.”


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