Train passengers have been urged to plan their journeys ahead of Black Friday.

Birmingham New Street station is expected to welcome hundreds of thousands of shoppers travelling for Black Friday sales, the Christmas market, and weekend celebrations.

Last year, over 200,000 people passed through the station for the pre-Christmas sales event, which is 40,000 more than a typical Friday.

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This year is expected to have similar footfall, making it one of the busiest weekends of the year.

Trains and platforms are expected to be crowded.

As such, passengers intending to travel by train into the city centre are encouraged to follow three guidelines.

These are to plan their journey and check travel details at nationalrail.co.uk, know the schedules of the last few trains, and avoid depending on the final service to return home.

They are also asked to show respect to staff and fellow travellers.

Elizabeth Graham, station manager at Birmingham New Street, said: "Black Friday, the Christmas market, and other festive attractions are great for Birmingham, but it means busier trains and more people on platforms and the station concourse.

"Every year, we carefully plan for and safely manage big increases in passenger numbers, but I’d please ask passengers to do their bit by following our three golden rules to make their journeys as smooth as possible.

"There will be extra staff in place across the station to provide advice and information and help keep passengers safe throughout."

In case of extremely busy times, queuing systems might be implemented to safely manage the boarding process.

As Christmas approaches, travellers are also urged to plan their journeys between Christmas Eve and January 2.

Though most of the rail network will be operational, Network Rail will be conducting improvement work across Britain, which might disrupt some services.