Welly washing all part of the Secret (Garden) Service from Great Northern

Great Northern train staff will be treating festival-goers to this year’s Secret Garden Party (21 July to 24 July) near Huntingdon to a free welly wash as part of their plans to cater for those of the 34,000-strong crowd who choose to travel by train. The last few years have seen heavy rain and a lot of mud.

Longer trains are also being provided on Thursday and Friday, 21 and 22 July, as well as on Sunday and Monday morning as they leave but regular passengers are being warned that services will still be particularly busy.

Group Station Manager Karen Gregson said: “This year’s festival is going to be a fabulous event and we’re determined to help people get there with the least amount of inconvenience to our regular passengers.

“So we’ll be putting on longer trains and resurrecting last year’s welly wash if it is a wet weekend, this helps to keep our trains clean as festival-goers come home. Our trains will be particularly busy.”

Karen also has extra staff and crowd control measures in place at Huntingdon.

ends

(Pictures show last year's welly wash)

Notes to editors

For more information email press.office@gtrailway.com or call

Thameslink and Great Northern press office: 0203 750 2031

Govia Thameslink Railway

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) operates Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express services as follows:

Thameslink – services between Bedford and Brighton, Luton/St Albans and Sutton, Wimbledon and Sevenoaks

Great Northern – services between London and Welwyn, Hertford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn

Southern – services between London and the Sussex coast (Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Hastings) and parts of Surrey, Kent and Hampshire (Ashford International, Southampton, Portsmouth)

Gatwick Express – Fast, non-stop direct services between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria

GTR is now the largest rail franchise in the UK in terms of passenger numbers, trains, revenue and staff: GTR carries about 326 million passenger journeys per year, employs around 6,500 people and generates annual passenger revenues of approximately £1.3bn.

The GTR investment programme for stations includes funding for more CCTV, toilet refurbishments, new retail facilities, help points and car park improvements – as well as plans for increased motorcycle storage and improved transport integration.

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