Wembley Stadium's bid to increase the number of events at the stadium LINK has encountered opposition from a significant public transport provider. In a letter to Brent Council Chiltern Railways say the not not have sufficient rail stock or staff capacity to cater for more events. They say other services they provide are already hit on event days.
The new Wembley Station was originally designated a 'public transport destination'.
This is the Chiltern Railways letter:
Planning REF: 24/1329
Dear Brent Council Planning Authority,
On behalf of Chiltern Railways, who operate services to London, Birmingham and Oxford via Wembley Stadium station we wanted to object to the proposed application for 9 additional events to be held at Wembley Stadium each year.
As the key mainline rail operator operating Wembley Stadium Station, we carry between 8 and 12% of customer flows for Wembley events including major football fixtures and summer concerts. Whilst we are supportive of the positive impact Wembley events have for local economic activity, Chiltern Railways does not currently have enough available rolling stock and associated colleagues to deliver the current cap of 24 sporting events and 22 non-sporting events each year.
At present for Wembley major events impacting our route including recent examples of the Champions League Final on the 1 June 2024 and League One Play Off Final on Saturday 18 May 2024 Chiltern have had to remove services off other sections of our network to deliver enough capacity to safely serve Wembley Stadium. This is having an ongoing negative affect on Chiltern Railways reputation and is negatively impacting our customer and stakeholder relationships on other routes.
If the event cap is extended by a further 9 events, in order to protect our customer base and stakeholder relationships on our wider network, Chiltern Railways will have to take the difficult decision to not serve each and every Wembley event. This will put additional pressure on other transport modes including London Underground, road and bus links to Wembley Stadium.
Chiltern have applied to the Department for Transport for additional rolling stock for the Chiltern Mainline which would enable us to deliver the required capacity for the future growth of events at Wembley Stadium. Following the General Election we expect that the new Secretary of State for Transport would be in position to make a final decision on these proposals in December 2024. As such the earliest that new rolling stock could be introduced is late 2025. We will also need to get signoff from the Department for Transport to increase our colleague numbers in order to operate additional services.
In conclusion, whilst we currently support the delivery of major events at Wembley Stadium, as the key mainline rail operator we do not currently have any additional rolling stock capacity to meet the proposed extension in the events cap.
To protect our customer and stakeholder reputation across the wider Chiltern Railways network, we are likely to be in a position where we cannot safely serve each and every Wembley event with mainline rail services. We are continuing to advocate for additional rolling stock to the Department for Transport and would ask Brent Council, Wembley Stadium and The Football Association to support these plans to enable us to serve additional Wembley events in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Zach Bailey
Regional Growth Manager
Chiltern Railways
