Hull KR’s Wembley appearance played a major part in Hull Trains securing a record day of operations.
The Challenge Cup Final made it a sporting Saturday to surpass all others on the rails, with a staggering 7,200 journeys recorded - the most seen in a single day in the 23 years the service has been operational.
More than 3,000 fans were carried to and from the capital, while Humber Street Sesh, Hull City entertaining Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace fans heading to Sheffield United for the return of Premier League football there also provided strong sales.
Read more: Hull waste specialist takes the pain out of recycling for Calpol
Louise Mendham, service delivery director for Hull Trains, said: “We knew this was going to be an exceptionally busy weekend for our services already with Humber Street Sesh and Sheffield United playing, and then Hull KR reached the finals at Wembley which bolstered our Saturday bookings.
“We are huge supporters of the club both as a business and many of our team personally, so it was vital that we could do all we could to play our part in supporting our home city and provide extra capacity on those key services to and from the capital to both ensure fans could get to the game but also keep our leisure travellers moving with minimal disruption.
“Although the Rugby didn’t finish as we hoped for, we were able to carry all of the 3,000 fans booked with us there and back through the strengthened 10-carriage and extra services that we ran. It was certainly a win for team Hull Trains, and I’d like to put on record our huge thanks and appreciation for all of our team who made the weekend possible, and to our customers who choose to travel with us.”
A previous record had been registered on May 29, Spring Bank Holiday, when Barnsley played Sheffield Wednesday in the League One Play-off Final.
Most Read
Seat availability between Hull and London’s King’s Cross was boosted by 33 per cent with all five of the Paragon fleet deployed, working with Hitachi and Network Rail to enable it.
The plans included adding five additional carriages on the 08:24 from Hull and 19:48 from London to offer 327 extra seats in each direction. Additionally, two special services were added at 08:32 from Hull and 20:27 from London specifically for Hull KR fans travelling without seat reservations.
The weekend was also described as having added challenges, which included overrunning engineering works resulting in extra customers using Hull Trains.