23 April 2025
This weekend expect the capital to be busier than usual as it hosts the FA Cup Semi Finals between Crystal Palace and Aston Villa at Wembley on Saturday 26th and Nottingham Forest and Manchester City on Sunday 27th April. On Sunday, the annual London Marathon will also be taking place resulting in many road closures and the streets being filled with lots of people cheering on those racing.
If you plan to come into the capital or travel around it over the weekend of 26th and 27th April, please give yourself plenty of time before setting out. Below are some of the major issues to be aware of along with links for more information for those attending the marathon.
Aston Villa supporters travelling down from Birmingham
Chiltern Railways is running an enhanced timetable from Warwick Parkway to ensure that fans can travel down to London. As a result, no Chiltern Railways train services will operate from Birmingham Moor Street, Solihull, Dorridge, Lapworth, Hatton or Warwick for the entire day. And due to the game kicking off at 5.15pm, Chiltern has advised passengers that services back up to Birmingham after the match will be limited and extremely busy.
For more information, please visit Chiltern’s dedicated webpage.
Trains from Nottingham to be extremely disrupted
A combination of the London Marathon, continuing engineering works at Kings Cross St Pancras and fans attending the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley on Sunday means that trains will be extremely limited with EMR Intercity services reduced to just one train per hour from Nottingham. East Midlands Railway is warning passengers to expect delays, standing room only on board and queuing systems to be in place and cannot guarantee that everyone will be able to get on a train either to London or on the return home. EMR has advised those not attending the game or London Marathon to change their travel plans to an expected more quieter time in the day.
For more information, please visit EMR’s website.
Manchester City fans coming into Euston
Thankfully no engineering works are planned for the weekend of 26th and 27th April and trains are expected to run to the timetable as scheduled. However, we would advise supporters to give themselves plenty of time to get to Wembley particularly with the London Marathon taking place on the same day. There will be many road closures in place with the streets being much more crowded than usual, so getting around will be slow going.
For more information about how to get to Wembley from London Euston, check out this handy guide from Avanti West Coast.
London Marathon 2025
As usual, expect the capital to be very busy on Sunday when it hosts the annual London Marathon. There will be road closures, streets more crowded than usual and busier trains, Tubes and buses.
Below you can find links to useful information put together by the race sponsor TCS to help you get around on the day if you’re planning to attend. Even if your journey isn’t expected to be disrupted, always give yourself more time than you think as problems can crop up at any point.
We wish everyone a great, safe time and the best of luck whether you’re a runner or a supporter.
