Edinburgh Waverley passenger numbers expected to rise by 60 per cent during the festival period

Management at the train station said passenger numbers can exceed 100,000 people on certain days, with a higher concentration of footfall bringing additional challenges to staff in addition to heightened security measures. 

Both the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival get underway on August 2 before the art, film and book festival launch later in the month. 

More than three million passengers travelled through Edinburgh Waverley station in August last year | NW

Chris King, station manager at Edinburgh Waverley station said: “We need to get our staff ready to cope with the increased passenger demand - it really does ramp up. We average around 63,000 people a day before the festival, but during the festival it can be over 100,000 on certain days. So we really need to step up our game in response to customer service, passenger assist and maintain security of the station.

“Security is significantly more challenging with more footfall. We have criteria which we need to meet and part of that is watching the behaviour of crowds and people. So when we have an additional 40,000 people in here our staff have to be more aware and more alert.

Mr King added: “We work in close collaboration with the British Transport Police who have greater sources of intelligence and they can let us know if there is anything within the facility we need to be aware of.”

Last year saw 3.3 million customers pass through the station during August - an increase of nearly 18 per cent (500,000 customers) compared to the same period in 2022. Summer is also a busy period for the passenger assist team - who help people with mobility issues access the building and trains. An average month sees the team help 4,930 customers, but this increases to around 6,700 during the festival period. 

Mr King said several station improvements in recent years, including the £1.8 million East West Walkway, will help the train station manage the high volume of passengers. Edinburgh Waverley has also upgraded signage around the building and improved CCTV and information monitors. 

Mr Kind added: “In 2022 our passenger numbers were 2.8 million, last year it was 3.3 million - so that’s half a rise of half million in August alone, so if we see something like that again we could see 3.8 to 4 million people through the station in one month, which is pretty phenomenal when you think about the size and the space.”