The Queen's funeral: Tube services facing 'unprecedented' demand

Crowds descended on The Mall on Wednesday for the procession for the lying-in-state. Many more people are expected to travel to central London in the coming days

In the control room at London's Victoria Tube station, two words are banned - "calm" and "quiet".

The staff here do not want to tempt fate by using them.

They say they're ready for the big weekend ahead of them, with people set to pass through the station in their tens of thousands.

While I've been here, many travellers have come through the station bearing flowers, some dressed in black.

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Within walking distance of Buckingham Palace, St James's Park and Green Park, this station has become a gateway for people arriving in London to pay their respects to the Queen.

Staff at Victoria Tube station have cancelled meetings to help direct visitors to London

"It's definitely getting busier," Antony Joseph, a customer service adviser in the control room told me.

"There are a lot more lost passengers from around the country, people who are not regular travellers. So we are spending time on the gatelines (ticket turnstiles) giving them directions."

Things are so busy that senior-level staff have cancelled meetings and gone front of house - like Lilli Mason, director of health and safety. She is now directing members of the public at nearby Victoria bus station.

So too have volunteers been drafted in - it's all hands on deck.

Lilli told me: "For a lot of us, we want to be part of this. This is a really important moment for London; we want to ensure travel is a really easy part of their day."

Green Park Tube station is currently operating an exit-only policy to manage flow

The site for floral tributes for the Queen was moved to Green Park, which has seen a large number of visitors

London's transport commissioner Andy Byford has said the coming days will be "biggest challenge" in the history of Transport for London (TfL).

It is well used to sudden and large injections of passengers after concerts and sporting events, but this is likely to be on an altogether different scale. TfL said it was expecting "unprecedented" demand until the Queen's funeral.

Workers at Victoria station say it is getting busier

Key to relieving pressure points is the public message - asking people well in advance to consider changing their travel plans and to expect delays.

This weekend, people visiting to pay their respects to the Queen are being asked to consider walking to their final destinations, while those who work in central London are being encouraged to consider timing their travel with regard to the pressure on the transport network.

Victoria station is within easy walking distance of Buckingham Palace and other key ceremonial focal points

And, while time is short to get the message across, there are already signs people are hearing it loud and clear.

Green Park station, for example, which is a short walk from the floral tribute site near Buckingham Palace, said it had not seen a big an increase in passenger numbers compared to surrounding stations. (People are being asked to avoid using Green Park station at all over the coming days, if possible.)

The number of Tube journeys being made in the Mall area has increased by nearly 20% in places, as you might expect. However, passenger numbers here are still below pre-pandemic levels.

The workers I've spoken to at Victoria want to play their part, to keep things moving, to make it easy for people travelling to key sites this weekend.

They won't speak the words themselves, but they will want it to be calm, and quiet.

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