As the professionals begin practicing at Royal St George’s in preparation for The Open on Thursday, Southeastern is also finalising plans to run direct high speed services to Sandwich for the first time.
The direct services from St Pancras International will cut journey times to 80 minutes.
Sandwich station will be served by four trains an hour (two high speed and two Mainline) to help accommodate the anticipated 180,000 spectators who will attend this week.
Additional early morning trains from St Pancras International will ensure that spectators can get to the course to see the first tee times.
Departures from St Pancras International are as follows:
- Thursday 14 July and Friday 15 July – 04:28, 05:18, 05:46, 06:40 and half hourly until 11.42
- Saturday 16 July – 05:35, 05:55, 06:40 and half hourly until 13.42
- Sunday 17 July – 06:42 and two an hour until 13.42
A Southeastern spokesperson said: “This is one of the biggest sporting events in the country and we have been working very closely with the R&A (organisers of the championship) and with the emergency services to ensure that we will be able to help transport spectators to the golf.
“With so many spectators expected, we are anticipating that there will inevitably be some queuing at the station for those leaving in the afternoon and evening.
“We are asking customers to plan their journeys in advance and have advice at the station and online to help on return journeys.
“We also have an information booth at the course where you can find out how services are running and what the queuing times are.”
