Worcester Foregate Street is expected to be “extremely busy” on Friday (March 17) as punters head off to Gold Cup Day at the Cheltenham Festival.

West Midlands Railway is advising passengers heading to Cheltenham to use Worcester Shrub Hill instead, as Great Western Railway is running additional services with extra carriages from the station.

All trains running between Birmingham New Street and Hereford, and between Birmingham Snow Hill and Worcester are likely to be busier than usual.

At peak times, queue systems are likely to be put in place. Additional staff have also been brought in to stations this week to keep people moving.

West Midlands Railway, on its website, is telling passengers: "GWR will be running additional services with extra carriages from Worcester Shrub Hill.

"You're advised to use these services, as trains to/from Worcester Foregate Street will be extremely busy."

GWR is running 23 trains each day to take racegoers home from the festival, towards Worcester, London and Bristol.

Cheltenham Spa station manager Chris Rule said: “We are delighted to be able to welcome back passengers to the Cheltenham Festival, but after a couple of years away we might need to remind people of some housekeeping.

“We’ll have additional staff on hand to help keep people moving, but a queueing system is needed at the busiest times to help people board trains safely.

“We’ll always get you on board as quickly as we can, but please do be prepared to have to wait a little bit to get on board.”