Get Ready For Rugby World Cup Fever

Plan ahead for your journey as public transport and roads will be busy

With the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup set to take place Friday (18 September), followed by the first match (England versus Fiji) taking place at Twickenham Stadium at 8pm, transport authorities and the police are advising that certain areas of London will be busier than usual.

There will be a managed closure of the A316 between the Hospital Bridge Roundabout and London Road 3 hours before, during the matches and for 2 hours after each match. Wider area traffic will be diverted away from the area on match days through physical interventions, signs, advertising and Traffic Demand Management .

Trains and tube services are likely to be disrupted as spectators flock to the event at a time which is normally busy with commuters. See up to date details on Twitter

If you can, please consider re-timing your travel or seeking alternative routes where possible and allow more time for your journey. To see a map of busier stations and lines, click here

Some buses will be on diversion and details of these changes can be found at www.tfl.gov.uk/bus/status.

Some schools in the area have announced early closure to allow pupils to get home more easily and it's also an option that some workers might decide to take.

A total of 82,000 spectators are expected to fill the stadium and Twickenham and another 10,000 fans to fill a nearby fanzone. You can also create your own bespoke journeyplanner

Trains: For Overground trains, commuters might have to wait for longer than usual at Waterloo, Vauxhall, Clapham Junction, Putney and Richmond - queueing systems will be in place at major stations before and after the match. Fewer trains that depart Waterloo platforms 14-19 will be calling at Clapham Junction. Regulars should board trains on platforms 1-4 for Clapham Junction

Tubes: travel advice from Transport for London ( TfL) is that all tube and rail services from central London to and from Twickenham will be exceptionally busy from 16:00 to 18:30 and again from 21:40 until midnight on Friday.

This is likely to include;

The District Line between Embankment and Richmond

Piccadilly Line, between Green Park and Hounslow West

If you can, please consider re-timing your travel or seeking alternative routes where possible and allow more time for your journey. To see a map of busier stations and lines, please click here

On Saturday 19 September, another match will take place at Twickenham Stadium from 20:00. Affected Tube and rail stations are expected to be busier from 17:00 until 19:30 and 21:40 until 00:00.

For full details, visit tfl.gov.uk/rugby-travel

If you would normally drive through the area around the Stadium, check www.rugbyworldcup.com/gameplan for information about traffic or road closures.

Ten of the tournament's matches are being staged at Twickenham, the home of English rugby. The Rugby World Cup 2015 is the third largest global sporting event. Between Friday and 31st October, there will be 48 games at thirteen venues. More than two millions fans in total will watch the matches across the country and in Cardiff, with an expected global TV audiance of more than 4.2 billion.

September 18, 2015