Running for the first time since 2019, the Glastonbury Festival will take place over four days with the campsite available to campers from Wednesday the 22nd to Monday the 27th of June.
Great Western Railway (GWR) will be running more than 50 trains to Castle Cary from London Paddington from the Wednesday to the Friday with around 12,000 extra seats being made available in order to get the revellers to the world-renowned festival.
The festival's arrival dates are between Wednesday the 22nd and Friday the 24th of June with approximately 20,000 extra passengers are expected to travel with GWR to Castle Cary station in Somerset.
In a bid to get festival-goers to reduce their carbon foot and travel by trains, GWR is asking passengers to reserve seating and not to bring barrows or trolleys as they will not be allowed on to trains.
The huge influx of travellers means that overnight Castle Cary becomes one of the busiest stations from being one of the quietest.
Castle Cary station manager Ben Scott explains:
“Glastonbury Festival is one of the busiest events on the GWR network and we want to get everyone here in a timely, safe and affordable manner.
“To offer the very best experience for all of our passengers, that means limiting what can and cannot be brought on board and providing people with the best information we can to let them take advantage of less busy trains.
“Reserving a seat allows us to see which trains are the busiest, so we can let people know on our website where there is more availability.”
Advance purchase tickets are available now at GWR.com and mean that travellers can choose which train they can book a seat on and also which is the cheapest.
Outbound GWR tickets are now available, however, return tickets with a return travel date of Monday the 27th of June should be on sale from Thursday the 7th of April.
The rail industry's ‘Book with Confidence' scheme has been extended through to the end of September which means that passengers can change their travel plans right up to the evening before departure without being charged a fee if they are not able to travel and receive a refund for their unused ticket.
If passengers do need to change their travel plans they can amend their journey free of fees up to 6pm the day before travelling. This facility is applicable to Advance tickets purchased up to the 30th of September 2022. Fare price difference may be applicable and Advance tickets bought online can also be exchanged for a voucher to use on a future journey.
Leading up to the start of the festival, 51 trains will stop at Castle Cary with 18 extra services running. Passengers will have to be able to carry their luggage over the Castle Cary footbridge ahead of boarding the shuttle bus service to the festival site.
Festival-goers need only bring with them what they can carry and what they can fit on a bus, charge their phone if using electronic tickets and also remember to carry their railcards with them.
Great Western Railway staff will be available to help customers travelling to the festival throughout the GWR network.
To find out more about trains to the Glastonbury Festival including luggage and shuttle buses from the station please visit: https://www.gwr.com/stations-and-destinations/travel-inspiration/festivals-and-events/glastonbury-festival
