All Rails Lead to Birmingham for the 2022 Commonwealth Games

Living Magazines Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

With less than a week to go passengers are being given top travel tips during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The West Coast main line between London Euston and Scotland, Chiltern main line between London Marylebone and Birmingham and all rail routes in the West Midlands, will play a crucial role in transporting games-goers over the 12-day sporting spectacle.

A predicted one million extra passenger journeys are to be made while the Games take place between 28 July and 8 August.

During that time Network Rail’s three tips to passengers and visitors are:

  • Check before you travel,
  • Plan your journey, and
  • Leave more time than usual to reach your destination.

Across Birmingham and the West Midlands, 15 venues will play host to 20 sports, with trains and stations expected to be much busier than usual.

Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham International, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Perry Barr, and Warwick are all expected to be among the busiest stations during the games.

Denise Wetton, Network Rail’s Central route director, said: ‘After nearly five years of planning since Birmingham was announced as host city in 2017, we are now just days away from welcoming tens of thousands of people from around the world to the West Midlands.

‘Right across the rail industry and other public transport networks we are prepared to get spectators to where they need to be during this major international event. I’d urge people lucky enough to have clinched tickets to make sure they follow our top travel tips and check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk, so they can get to venues in plenty of time and see sporting history be made.’

For detailed information about how to get to venues during the Commonwealth Games you can visit dedicated pages on the:

Passengers are also being reminded of national industrial action on the railway on Wednesday 27 and Saturday 30 July which will impact rail journeys in the first few days of the events.

People who need extra help getting on and off the train are able to pre-book assistance.

Passengers can do that in advance by phone, text phone or online by clicking this link or using the new Passenger Assistance app by Transreport, which speeds up the process to request assistance.

Rail travellers can get the latest information and plan their journeys using their train operators’ websites or at www.nationalrail.co.uk.