Car Travel
If you are planning to drive to Levitation 2024 you will be delighted to hear that none of the works that are currently taking place on the M54 are scheduled for the Easter weekend. Please see the Travel page for details of where to park.
If you have space in your car and would be willing to give a fan or fans a lift to and/or from the convention, there are two places for discussing possible car shares. One is the UK Eastercon Community Group on Facebook, and the other is the convention DIscord server which you can access from the Membership Portal.
Train Travel
There are two issues with train travel to Telford Central that we are aware of:
- Planned engineering work between Milton Keynes and London over the Easter weekend
- Emergency engineering work between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton because of a landslip
Regarding the landslip, the incident report on the National Rail website, which is updated frequently, has the most up to date information.
LATEST UPDATE as of Thursday morning:
Network Rail have been working to rectify the issue, and the line is expected to reopen with the planned train service on Friday 29 March.
For travel on Thursday 28 March, this is what’s happening:
Transport for Wales are running a rail replacement coach service between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton which serves Telford Central. It adds around half an hour to expected journey time:
- Wolverhampton to Telford Central normal journey time is 17 or 27 minutes depending on whether you’re on a fast train or a stopping service, and the rail replacement coach takes 45 or 60 minutes depending on which train it’s replacing.
- Shrewsbury to Telford Central normal journey time is 21 minutes and the rail replacement coach takes 46 minutes.
West Midlands Railway are running a limited train shuttle service from Wolverhampton to Telford Central.
If you have mobility issues and are planning to travel on one of the rail replacement services:
- West Midlands Railway normally use low floor accessible buses on this route but may be using some coaches; we recommend contacting their Assisted Travel Team on 0800 024 8998 or 18001 0800 024 8998 (Next Generation Text).
- Transport of Wales normally use coaches (which aren’t accessible). Their Assisted Travel Team can be contacted on 03330 050 501 or 08457 585 469 (Textphone)
We believe there are trains scheduled from Birmingham New Street to Telford Central at the following times (calling at Wolverhampton 19 minutes later):
07:56, 09:56, 11:56, 13:56, 15:56, 17:26, 17:56, 20:04 and 21:56
There is also a West Midlands Railway replacement bus service that leaves Wolverhampton at 4 minutes past the hour, every hour (last bus at 23:04) and takes an hour to reach Telford Central. And there’s a Transport for Wales replacement coach service that leaves Wolverhampton at 45 minutes past the hour, every hour (until 21:45, with one final coach at 00:51) and takes 45 minutes to reach Telford Central.
Please check the National Rail Enquires Real Time Journey Planner for up to date information.
Telford Central has step free access to all platforms and there is a step free (though not flat) route from the station to the convention centre via the shopping centre, which is open until 8pm on Thursday and 6pm on Friday. There’s a map in the ReadMe – don’t use Google Maps as it sends you via an unsuitable route . It is possible to walk to the hotels via a different route when the shopping centre is closed but the pavements are uneven.
The local taxi app is Veezu. The taxi pick up point is in the station car park which is on the eastbound side of the station.
Regarding the planned engineering work:
- If you are travelling from or via London on Good Friday you will need to take a train from London Marylebone (rather than the usual London Euston) to Birmingham Moor Street. From there it’s a short walk or bus ride to Birmingham New Street where you can get a train to Telford Central (depending on timing you may need to change to a rail replacement service at Wolverhampton). Alternatively there is the National Express 409 coach service from Victoria, but this only runs once a day at 1pm, arriving in Telford shortly after 5pm.
- If you are travelling from the north on Avanti West Coast you will find that there are fewer trains than normal so it’s advisable to book a seat. You may also want to consider changing trains at Crewe to travel via Shrewsbury instead of via Birmingham, but this will require using the replacement coach service between Shrewsbury and Telford Central if it’s still in operation.
We expect to begin our programming at noon on Good Friday, with the opening ceremony at 2.30pm, so please take this into account when planning your journey.