Trains full into Cardiff this morning - wonder how it will be on way home

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Wales Online

There are long queues at train stations around Wales this morning ahead of the Wales game and trains coming into Cardiff are packed.

In Swansea, queues were building up as early as 10am this morning, with fans hoping to make sure they get to Cardiff with plenty of time ahead of kick off at 2.45pm.

Six Nations fans are being put on buses from some train stations including Bridgend and others are reporting they can't get on trains.

One wrote: "Once again let down by @tfwrail. Another full train and despite people getting off the guard wouldn't let anyone on."

Another said: "No one is accountable and no one knows what is going on."

A third wrote: "Two @tfwrail trains have stopped at the station unable to let people on. Getting great value for money out of my season ticket. No seats during the weekdays and unable to even get on the train at the weekend. Is this the service you think Wales deserves?"

Transport for Wales has said they are expecting it to be extremely busy today, adding they have every train in service.

Up to 275,000 rugby fans are expected in the  Welsh capital  today, with fans in red hoping to see a first Grand Slam in seven years. You can follow our liveblog on the Grand Slam Saturday here .

Despite the long queue, fans waiting to board a train at Swansea station this morning were in good spirits and station staff were handing out sweets.

[patch38]

I think there's an easy way to look at the crowd and estimate the number of travellers from Cardiff this evening:

Wearing RED - staying in Cardiff until much later.

Wearing GREEN - leaving.

 

[phile]

From Wales Online

There are long queues at train stations around Wales this morning ahead of the Wales game and trains coming into Cardiff are packed.

In Swansea, queues were building up as early as 10am this morning, with fans hoping to make sure they get to Cardiff with plenty of time ahead of kick off at 2.45pm.

Six Nations fans are being put on buses from some train stations including Bridgend and others are reporting they can't get on trains.

One wrote: "Once again let down by @tfwrail. Another full train and despite people getting off the guard wouldn't let anyone on."

Another said: "No one is accountable and no one knows what is going on."

A third wrote: "Two @tfwrail trains have stopped at the station unable to let people on. Getting great value for money out of my season ticket. No seats during the weekdays and unable to even get on the train at the weekend. Is this the service you think Wales deserves?"

Transport for Wales has said they are expecting it to be extremely busy today, adding they have every train in service.

Up to 275,000 rugby fans are expected in the  Welsh capital  today, with fans in red hoping to see a first Grand Slam in seven years. You can follow our liveblog on the Grand Slam Saturday here .

Despite the long queue, fans waiting to board a train at Swansea station this morning were in good spirits and station staff were handing out sweets.

There were problems from the Bristol direction also.     The Media haven't made any suggestions as to where additional carriages can be obtained from.  Unless something quickly changes they will have to wait in the pouring rain in the queues to return home tonight.

[TaplowGreen]

From Wales Online

There are long queues at train stations around Wales this morning ahead of the Wales game and trains coming into Cardiff are packed.

In Swansea, queues were building up as early as 10am this morning, with fans hoping to make sure they get to Cardiff with plenty of time ahead of kick off at 2.45pm.

Six Nations fans are being put on buses from some train stations including Bridgend and others are reporting they can't get on trains.

One wrote: "Once again let down by @tfwrail. Another full train and despite people getting off the guard wouldn't let anyone on."

Another said: "No one is accountable and no one knows what is going on."

A third wrote: "Two @tfwrail trains have stopped at the station unable to let people on. Getting great value for money out of my season ticket. No seats during the weekdays and unable to even get on the train at the weekend. Is this the service you think Wales deserves?"

Transport for Wales has said they are expecting it to be extremely busy today, adding they have every train in service.

Up to 275,000 rugby fans are expected in the  Welsh capital  today, with fans in red hoping to see a first Grand Slam in seven years. You can follow our liveblog on the Grand Slam Saturday here .

Despite the long queue, fans waiting to board a train at Swansea station this morning were in good spirits and station staff were handing out sweets.

There were problems from the Bristol direction also.     The Media haven't made any suggestions as to where additional carriages can be obtained from.  Unless something quickly changes they will have to wait in the pouring rain in the queues to return home tonight.

Happens every time there is a major rugby match in Cardiff - this one has been in the calendar for over a year. Given that sort of notice, and with the regularity of these events it's reasonable to suggest that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would allocate extra resources accordingly, perhaps with some of the additional capacity they keep telling us about.

I'm not sure that it's up to the media to plan this sort of exercise for them?

Congratulations to Wales anyway.....I was at Twickenham yesterday and am still recovering!

[grahame]

Happens every time there is a major rugby match in Cardiff - this one has been in the calendar for over a year. Given that sort of notice, and with the regularity of these events it's reasonable to suggest that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would allocate extra resources accordingly, perhaps with some of the additional capacity they keep telling us about.

I'm not sure that it's up to the media to plan this sort of exercise for them?

Would you/we hope and/or expect to see classes 345, 387 and 769, and Castles, on relief trains to Cardiff in the future?

[IndustryInsider]

Certainly there is a plan to utilise 12-car Class 387 trains as capacity busters for the big weekend events at the Millennium Stadium when they are not all needed in the Thames Valley - though of course that needs Cardiff to be wired up which won't be until the end of the year.  There will always be crowding when you are dealing with such a sudden influx of people at a station which is poorly designed to deal with such numbers.

[jamestheredengine]

The underlying problem is that the section 106 conditions for building that stadium were woefully insufficient.

[welshman]

The lack of adequate rolling stock is also relevant.