Travel arrangements for rugby fans attending the Six Nations rugby match between England and Scotland in Cardiff tomorrow, Saturday, 3 February, may be affected by industrial action.
There may be some short-notice alterations or cancellations to Great Western Railway and CrossCountry services before and after the match because of industrial action by ASLEF, although Transport for Wales services will run as normal.
Further disruption is also likely on services between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare due to engineering works, with Cardiff-Taunton-Plymouth services starting and terminating at Bristol Temple Meads, from where rail replacement services will be provided.
Immediately before and after the match which kicks off at 16.45 trains will be extremely busy. A queueing system will be in place at Cardiff Central after the match, with supporters travelling east towards Newport required to queue on the square in front of Cardiff Central instead of Riverside Car Park.
To help cope with supporters travelling home, Great Western Railway will operate shuttle services between Cardiff and Newport using its Class 387 Electrostars.
On Sunday. 4 February, further industrial action will significantly affect Great Western services. There will be no trains between London Paddington and South Wales, and only a limited service on other routes, including Cardiff to Portsmouth, and Cardiff to Exeter St Davids via Weston-Super-Mare.
Anyone intending to travel over the weekend should check before they travel, and information can be found online at GWR.com.
Great Western Railway Operations Director, Richard Rowland, said: “We do ask fans to check before they travel as industrial action may lead to some short-notice alterations or cancellations, and to travel as soon as possible after the match.
“We'd also like to remind supporters that trains will be extremely busy leading up to kick-off and immediately following the match. Please do allow sufficient time to queue to board trains safely.”
Transport for Wales Head of Performance, Adam Terry, said: “Our staff are not involved in this week's industrial action and we'll be running our full timetable, however, some trains may be busier than usual due to the service changes at other operators both on the day of the match itself, and the surrounding days.
“We'll be providing as much capacity as possible on services in and out of Cardiff before and after the game, but we'd advise all customers to plan their journeys carefully, leave plenty of time to travel and check for the latest updates throughout the day using our website or our award-winning mobile app.
“We're looking forward to welcoming tens of thousands of rugby fans through Cardiff Central station and our staff will be working incredibly hard to get everyone to the game and home safely afterwards.”
