During the official mourning period following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a significant number of people are expected to visit London to pay their respects – especially on the day of the state funeral on Monday 19th September.
In order to help people get to and from London, train operators are running extra services – including overnight services. This page aims to summarise details about extra services from our local area, as well as advice on travelling within London and obtaining refunds if no longer travelling to London.
Where to Travel To
Lying-in-State
Although the lying-in-state will be at the Palace of Westminster (more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament!), the queue is expected to stretch for several miles, and you will need to join the queue at the end. The end of the queue may be as far back as Southwark Park, approximately a 25 minute walk from London Bridge and near Bermondsey tube station. It is highly suggested that you monitor the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Twitter account for information on where the end of the queue currently is and alight at either London Waterloo East or London Bridge and walk. A separate queue will also be available for those with accessibility needs.
The Government has also published information on attending the Lying-in-State – including how to join the queue, what to bring, and facilities.
Floral Tributes
A memorial flower garden has been created in Green Park, near Buckingham Palace. Green Park is approximately a 15 to 20 minute walk from London Charing Cross and London Victora stations.
Funeral Procession
The State Funeral Procession on Monday 19 September will take place both in London and Windsor. The route will go from Westminster to the Albert Memorial (near the Royal Albert Hall), going along St James Park, Green Park and Hyde Park in the process.
London Charing Cross and London Victoria are the closest stations, and walking to the entrances for the Westminster, St James’s Park and Green Park viewing areas is likely to be much quicker than taking the tube if able.
The viewing areas are expected to fill quickly. Once full, people will be directed to viewing sites in Hyde Park, where the event will be shown on several large screens. Entrances to the viewing sites are from the North East of Hyde Park. None of these are overly close to underground stations, likely deliberately to help with managing crowds. Nevertheless, some entrances are approximately at 35 to 40-minute walk from London Charing Cross station. For minimising walking, from Charing Cross take the Bakerloo line to Paddington or from Victoria take the Circle line, and it is then approximately a 10 minute walk to the nearest entrance to the Hyde Park viewing areas.
An accessible viewing area is available in Hyde Park, nearest the North East entrances.
After the procession, transport is likely to be extremely busy as many people will be travelling at the same time. Many are advising to delay your travel home if possible, and enjoy some of the hospitality that London has to offer.
Extra Services
A normal timetable is operating during the day. Although some trains will be longer than usual, many will be busier than usual. Both Southeastern and Southern publish an estimation of how busy trains will be.
A normal weekday service will run on Monday, with a few extra and lengthened trains.
Overnight, some additional trains will also run;
Southeastern
From Thursday 15th September until Tuesday 20th September inclusive, extra trains will run from London only. No overnight trains will run to London.
Services below only include extra services from London to Tunbridge Wells. Southeastern will also be running extra services from London Victoria to Ashford via Maidstone East, Dartford and Orpington – further details can be found on the Journey Planner.
Hildenborough and High Brooms stations will not be served by extra trains – only normal daytime trains.
There are no additional services between Tonbridge and Ashford, or on the Medway Valley line between Tonbridge and Strood.
As waiting times between overnight trains at London Charing Cross can be quite long, Southeastern have confirmed that a stationary train will be available overnight for people to sit on at Charing Cross as they wait for their train home. Similar arrangements are in place at London Victoria as well.
Early Mornings of Thursday 15th September and Friday 16th September
| Station | Train 1 | Train 2 |
| London Charing Cross | 01:45 | 03:45 |
| London Waterloo East | 01:48 | 03:48 |
| London Bridge | 01:54 | 03:54 |
| Orpington | 02:14 | 04:14 |
| Sevenoaks | 02:23 | 04:23 |
| Tonbridge | 02:32 | 04:32 |
| Tunbridge Wells | 02:41 | 04:41 |
Early Morning of Saturday 17th September
| Station | Train 1 | Train 2 | Train 3 |
| London Charing Cross | 01:45 | 03:45 | 05:45 |
| London Waterloo East | 01:48 | 03:48 | 05:48 |
| London Bridge | 01:54 | 03:54 | 05:54 |
| Orpington | 02:13 | 04:13 | 06:10 |
| Sevenoaks | 02:23 | 04:23 | 06:20 |
| Tonbridge | 02:31 | 04:31 | 06:29 |
| Tunbridge Wells | 02:41 | 04:41 | 06:37 |
Early Morning of Sunday 18th September
| Station | Train 1 | Train 2 | Train 3 |
| London Charing Cross | 01:45 | 03:45 | 05:45 |
| London Waterloo East | 01:48 | 03:48 | 05:48 |
| London Bridge | 01:54 | 03:54 | 05:54 |
| Orpington | 02:13 | 04:14 | 06:14 |
| Sevenoaks | 02:23 | 04:23 | 06:23 |
| Tonbridge | 02:31 | 04:32 | 06:36 |
| Tunbridge Wells | 02:41 | 04:41 | 06:44 |
Early Mornings of Monday 19th September and Tuesday 20th September
A normal weekday service will run on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th September. The first train from London Charing Cross on a normal weekday departs at 06:00 to Tunbridge Wells.
| Station | Train 1 | Train 2 |
| London Charing Cross | 01:45 | 03:45 |
| London Waterloo East | 01:48 | 03:48 |
| London Bridge | 01:54 | 03:54 |
| Orpington | 02:14 | 04:14 |
| Sevenoaks | 02:23 | 04:23 |
| Tonbridge | 02:32 | 04:32 |
| Tunbridge Wells | 02:41 | 04:41 |
Southern/Thameslink
From Thursday 15th September until Sunday 18th September inclusive, extra trains will run to and from London. Thameslink is one of the few operators that already operates an overnight service and this will be extended alongside extra overnight services from Southern.
South of the river, most of these services will call at Gatwick Airport and East Croydon, before continuing through the Thameslink Core (e.g. via Blackfriars) or terminating at Victoria. Some services also start from Brighton.
Redhill sees additional late-night and early-morning services, but many of the additional overnight services will skip it – leaving a gap of several hours. There are no additional services on the Redhill to Tonbridge line.
General Travel within London
Transport for London have produced a dedicated page about travel in London, including changes to normal services. Tube services are expected to be very busy and if you are able, walking is likely to be significantly faster.
If accessible travel is required, London Bridge underground station has step free access, as well as Westminster and Green Park. The Step Free Tube Map can help to plan journeys that are fully accessible, and the Avoiding Stairs Tube Map for planning journeys that involve relatively few or no stairs (e.g. using escalators). All buses are also fully accessible, however diversions are highly likely to be in place – especially during the state funeral on Monday 19th September. The Bus Status Updates page will provide more information when a stop such as Charing Cross or Westminster is entered.
Refunds
Due to the mourning period and expected number of extra people travelling to London, some people will no longer need or be willing to travel to London. In recognition of this, refunds are available on almost all types of tickets;
- Advanced (Fixed Train) tickets – These can be changed to a different date or refunded with no fee up to 6pm the day before travel under the existing Travel with Confidence scheme.
- Anytime, Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak tickets – If bought before the death of Her Majesty the Queen on 8th September for travel up to and including the 19th September, these can be refunded for no fee.
To change or refund a ticket above, you will need to contact the company that you bought the ticket from.
Tickets
Ticket restrictions apply as usual, except on Monday 19th September when peak-time restrictions will not apply.
The lengthy and unpredictable duration of the queue for the lying-in-state means some ticket types are not appropriate. Day return tickets are valid on the day of purchase and until 04:30 the following day. Therefore, a day return bought on Friday would only be valid for travel on the Saturday before 04:30. Although it is unlikely that any staff will attempt to enforce this, as a precaution you may wish to buy an “open return” (when available) instead of a day return – which permits you to return within one month. If travelling outwards on Friday or Saturday, Southeastern’s Weekender ticket allows you to return the following day and is generally cheaper than an open return.
Due to the unpredictable length of the queue for the lying-in-state, purchasing Advanced (fixed train) tickets is not recommended.
