train problems yesterday

[bjd]

Can anyone clarify what actually happened to the trains yesterday - ive been told 2000+ fans were late because of a points faliure or something , people who had seats booked on trains at 8am!!!

coming home the station looked chaos, luckily for me i was heading north and it all worked out as planned, but heading to london it looked a nightmare and there were certainly a few people losing their rag, did anyone get the train and if so did the problem affect you ?

i suppose driving to london it was the normal 8 hour journey back too ?

its great venue and a half decent city, but i wont miss cardiff one bit.

good result though!

on a lighter note i got cut by some celery yesterday from above and dont let anyone tell you that green veg cant hurt! no wonder fabregas was terrifed to take those corners..

[andy]

I sharpened that piece of celery just for you ! *

Don't know what happened on the trains, but I was on the M4 until I got to Bristol then got fed up so we got the map out.....yep 8 hours but I reckon more if we stayed M4 there wer eroadwrks most of the way on the journey in.

[Nibs]

I'm still seething BJD as I expect 1,000's of others are. We took the train option as after the Liverpool final last time it took us over 4 hours to just get out of Wales after the game, so we thought this time "let the train take the straain".

Me & Coombsie set off at 7.00am yesterday - got to Paddington just after 8.00am. Arrived in Cardiff at ............................................

One Minute before kick off.

The rail companies are a complete F*****g joke. One poor bloke with his 6 year old son arrived at his seat just along from us about two minutes before half time. That bloke's day not to mention his young kid's must have been totally ruined.

Both going and coming back the organisation was non existent. No one would tell you anything, getting on a train was just a complete lottery. We were lucky that we did actually get seats both there and back whilst many stood for the whole journey. The real problem was when we got near Newport and were told there was signal problems. The driver originally said we'd be in Cardiff at 12.45. So we were stuck for over two hours and I don't know how many trains were behind us. All the rail co and transport police were bothered about was reminding everyone that there was no alcohol allowed on the train. I tell you they were so lucky it was us & Arsenal and not us and West Ham or Millwall or Spurs as there would have been a riot. If that had been back in the 70's or 80's there would have been no train left and in a way I wish we had all wrecked the train.

Cardiff? NEVER AGAIN.

Journey home was better but only after queing for 2 hours without being told anything other than still signal problems and by the way no alcohol is allowed on the train..................

F*****g Glad we won though - to have gone through all that and lost doesn't even bare thinking about.

[bjd]

I'm still seething BJD as I expect 1,000's of others are. We took the train option as after the Liverpool final last time it took us over 4 hours to just get out of Wales after the game, so we thought this time "let the train take the straain".

Me & Coombsie set off at 7.00am yesterday - got to Paddington just after 8.00am. Arrived in Cardiff at ............................................

One Minute before kick off.

The rail companies are a complete F*****g joke. One poor bloke with his 6 year old son arrived at his seat just along from us about two minutes before half time. That bloke's day not to mention his young kid's must have been totally ruined.

Both going and coming back the organisation was non existent. No one would tell you anything, getting on a train was just a complete lottery. We were lucky that we did actually get seats both there and back whilst many stood for the whole journey. The real problem was when we got near Newport and were told there was signal problems. The driver originally said we'd be in Cardiff at 12.45. So we were stuck for over two hours and I don't know how many trains were behind us. All the rail co and transport police were bothered about was reminding everyone that there was no alcohol allowed on the train. I tell you they were so lucky it was us & Arsenal and not us and West Ham or Millwall or Spurs as there would have been a riot. If that had been back in the 70's or 80's there would have been no train left and in a way I wish we had all wrecked the train.

Cardiff? NEVER AGAIN.

Journey home was better but only after queing for 2 hours without being told anything other than still signal problems and by the way no alcohol is allowed on the train..................

F*****g Glad we won though - to have gone through all that and lost doesn't even bare thinking about.

My sympathies mate. My cousin was in the same boat (got home at 2:30am) Walking past all the queues i felt almost guilty that i live in the Midlands. It was obvious that it was going to be a nightmare, reminded me of Stockholm. Your spot on about the opponents, just think how close it came to being a Spurs/Chelsea final too. f**k me there wouldve been murder.

Heres to Wembley...

[Backbiter]

Just to make you feel a bit better. I live 15 mins from the stadium and transport was obvioulsy not a problem. My brother got me tickets and posted them 1st class recorded delivery on Tuesday, as a present for my daughter's 18th.

They still haven't arrived.

We contacted the Royal Mail hourly every day from Thursday, rang Chelsea, emailed the club, did everything, went to the Stadium in person, tried everything.

We had to buy new ones so it wasn't a total disaster (in fact it was a fantastic day!), but the Royal mail has been a disgrace. Ironically my brother posted her birthday card on Friday and that got here on Saturday.

[Gem]

Don't worry BJD, you have a friend who feels your pain

[g3.7]

the people we were meant to meet also turned up exactly a minute from kick off... must have been on the same trains as you nibs... heard on the radio about 2000 more turned up practically for the second half.

[Gem]

They're not used to that many people wanting to go INTO Wales. Transport systen couldn't cope. I'm sure it fine going out.

[Backbiter]

Wales has ONE motorway. And you have to pay ?5.10 to use it from East to West. And two stretches before you get to Cardiff are just two lanes. Talk about under-investment in transport infrastructure. They've been talking for decades about adding a second motorway south of Newport to ease congestion around the tunnels at Newport, but nothing's been done.

And the trains are useless, too - especially on Sundays.

[just]

Having been to the Millenium stadium for our two previous Cup Finals, I sold my ticket and decided not to go on Sunday because I knew the travel chaos there would be. My mates that went, all stayed over on the Saturday and Sunday night and travelled back Monday. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that. I would have had to have come back straight after the match.

When we played Arsenal in the FA Cup at Cardiff we stayed at a country club near Bristol the night before and thought we'd simply hop on a train early on the morning of the game. No chance. We ended up having to get a taxi from Bristol to Cardiff. And that took farking ages because of the road choas. Some people I know who travelled down by rented limo, took over five and a half hours to get home after the game because of the traffic nightmare !

Due to the parking restrictions around the Bridge these days, we travel to every home game by train and I honestly can't remember the last time I managed to get a seat on a Saturday morning service. Sometimes trains arrive at the platform with only three carriages ! As you can imagine these are absolutely rammed. On top of that there is virtually always some kind of maintenance work going on over the weekend period which results in some train services being delayed or abandoned altogether.

I have been lucky enough to have gone to many games abroad and nearly always use the public transport system. Invariably, in France, Germany, Italy it has been a pleasure with cheap fares, clean trains/buses, and a punctual, reliable service. In comparision Britain is a third world country with no real public transport service and a crumbling infrastructure.

IMO, our public transport system is a sad refelection of this country as a whole today.

[katznutz]

I wrote this on another board I use & I'm sorry I can't be bothered to edit it but this was my experience, I've cut out some of it 'cos the names won't mean much to most of you

One of the most entertaining games & unforgettable atmospheres I?ve experienced only completely ruined by the journey ~YET AGAIN!

I?ve been to Cardiff four times now & each journey has got progressively worse, & yesterday was a complete & utter shambles & by far the worst

I got up at 5.30am & we met Scott at East Croydon at 7am for our 7.14 train to Paddington. We were due out on the 8.33 to Cardiff to get there at 11am. Game on! Paddington was heaving with a snaked free for all queue that had at least 3000 people in it!

The tanoy announcer also said ?ALL TRAINS TO CARDIFF WILL HAVE NO ALCOHOL!? Not a good start at all

The new 40? Samsung tv we?ve got & a few cold crates of bud was very close to becoming reality & we were going to throw in the towel & go home

Cut a very very long 2hr story short (?cos that?s how long we were in the ?kin? queue for) we eventuatly got on the 10.37am which ?should?ve? got into Cardiff central about 1pm~ish. You guessed it, it didn?t. Apparently there was a signalling fault, near Newport which meant that we all had to wait to go through hand operated signalling & basically there were 3 trains in front of ours & 8 ones behind! We took nearly 1 ? hours to get from Newport to Cardiff (a 13 minute journey!)

Oh did I tell you that the trains were mixed with Chelsea & Arsenal fans, not an issue as such but this didn?t help the situation at all

Oh yeah to top it all there was no seats either so we stood all the way

.......... Blah Blah Blah * This is the editted bit

We watched the cup lifted & wondered about the long journey home & thought sod it, let?s get pissed with the *Aliens! *(Cardiff City lads that I know)

So we did for a couple of hours & then almost stayed up there ?cos the train queue was 2hrs deep & it wasn?t looking like the best plan in the world

After about ? dozen sambukas & a good few beers we joined the end of the line for the train (I smuggled on a full bottle of bacardi but forgot the pepsi, so it was neat white rum & a mega singalong with the local constabulary , which meant we had to change all the words to all the songs on the way home ~ Bloody hard work but hilarious it was ~ I s?pose you had to be there )

Then back to blighty (Paddington) at 1.15am! & a few claim forms for the trains ~ which I?m doing later today. Then 2 night buses to Victoria, had to wait for Victoria train staion to open at 2.15 Then a fast train to Croydon

After a ?11 sherbert (taxi) fare home Me & Nick got back home just before 3am!

Not bad concidering Cardiff is 2 ? hours away

Great day & nearly ?200 lighter would I do it again, yeah probably

BTW I've put in some compensation forms for the journey (s) & have been told I will get full compensation for them if this helps anyone else that went by "Great" Western

Go to their website Greatwestern.com & it has all the relevent info on there

[Elliott]

My Journey started out at 9.30am. Drove to Newport in about 3 hrs.

Left the car in Newport, and opted to get a train into Cardiff, which as already stated on here, takes roughly 15 mins.

By the time we got there after the nightmare of queing for a train that may never come, and being on it for an hour, i just had enough time to take a whizz and get into my seat in time for the kick off!

No beer, No food, and just about managed to empty the bladder!

The Stadium is great (apart from whoever designed the mens toilets), and the city seems a wicked place to go out on the lash, but the overall journey more than spoils it.

We tried to get back afterwards after about 1hr 30mins in a pub, and Cardiff Station resembled something like a third world country.

Bodies queing everywhere, no-one moving, police not knowing what is going on.

Chelsea fans : ''Look mate, we've been waiting in this queue for a train for the last hour and a half, when's one coming?''

Policeman : ''To be honest mate, we havent gotta clue''. Could be one here in 5 mins, or you may be here all night. We just dont know''...

Yeah. Exactly. Well that's just great.

Managed to finally get home about midnight.

It is the first time i have been, and thank god it will be the last. The transport services acted as though 70,000 people had just 'crept up on them unannounced'. You have to laugh.

I just felt sorry for all of those that had to turn back, and could'nt get there.

If you're on the end of a defeat, then it's not just a long way home, but A BLOODY LONG WAY HOME.

Thanks Didier.