Next Saturday, 19th August, Great Western Railway will run 70 trains to and from Cardiff to help fans attending the Wales-South Africa Summer International rugby match at the Principality Stadium.
In total, these trains will provide 34,000 seats, with 40 trains to Cardiff Central before the kick-off at 3.15 and 32 trains to take rugby fans home after the match.
Sixteen extra trains will run in addition to the usual timetable, with Great Western Railway's more-sustainable Class 387 Electrostars operating a shuttle service between Cardiff and Newport after the match. These trains are expected to be very busy, especially immediately after the match, and a queueing system will be in place outside the station.
The same queueing system will be in place that was used for this year's Six Nations fixtures, with supporters travelling east towards Newport having to queue on the square in front of Cardiff Central instead of from Riverside Car Park.
Because of industrial action by the RMT union, on Saturday there will be no CrossCountry services to Cardiff Central from Birmingham New Street. More information, about Great Western Railway or to check your journey can be found at GWR.com.
GWR Customer Service & Operations Director, Richard Rowland, said: “We're pleased to be able to provide some additional services for Saturday's Summer International, but we'd like to remind supporters that trains will be extremely busy leading up to kick-off and immediately following the match.
“We would encourage customers to check journey times and allow sufficient time to queue to board trains safely.”
Transport for Wales' Head of Operational Planning, Adam Terry, said: “TfW will have all available trains and carriages in service this weekend for the rugby in Cardiff. However, we expect services to be busy and urge all customers to check before they travel and plan ahead, especially as there is some industrial action on other operators between Cardiff and Cheltenham Spa which will have an impact on some customers.”
