Great Western Coffee Shop

........sorry if this has already been done elsewhere, but as an England rugby fan who is looking forward to a famous victory tonight I find it incredible that there is only one train back to London from Cardiff after the match at the Millenium stadium tonight (2226) - it will be absolute chaos at Cardiff Central - which genius made the decision not to run any later services, after all it's been in the calendar for almost a year?

I would actually suggest that it is for the event organiser to discuss/arrange with FGW for extra services if they want to put matches on that late....not the other way round.

There's another London Paddington HST.  Very sensibly not being advertised to the wider public as you don't want everyone turning up for that and the 22:26 running empty depending on how the crowd control is going.  There's also two London charters (one to Paddington, one to Victoria) at 22:09 and 22:32.

And lots of other additional regional trains to hopefully mop everyone all up:

22:15 to Bath Spa (HST)
22:55 to Bristol (HST)
23:10 to Bristol

Also a couple of extras heading towards Swansea (one a HST).

Indeed, advertise these & everyone would go for a beer & try to board the final one. Unadvertised, they will mop up those queuing....

Ah that's interesting, thanks.

I do remember a few years back watching a match at the Millenium and planning to get the last one back to Bristol.........fortunately (depending on your point of view!) we were drinking in Bridgend after the match, so got on a fairly empty train, however pulling into Cardiff was quite an experience.......I don't think I've ever seen so many people on board a train, with dozens left on the platform to contemplate a cold night at the station...........with only the memory of a crushing English victory to keep them warm!!!  :D

Come on England!

.....just hearing that Cardiff bound trains have been pulling into Bristol too packed for people to board

Are those with reservations guaranteed to get onto their booked train?  What if they get caught up in the queuing system and miss the last train of the night to their destination?

Also, interestingly, the Victoria service (headcode 146G (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55237/2015/02/06/advanced)) is coming off the GWML at North Pole then down the West London Line to London Victoria.  A few sections of line covered that don't normally see a passenger service.

..is no one going to mention that England one?! I suspect there may have been a few locals in red shirts drowning their sorrows in Cardiff last night.

As someone who lived in Wales for 15 years it never ceased to amazed me how patriotic and passionate the Welsh are about their rugby. If you walked down the Main Street in Cardiff on international day it was often just a sea of red jerseys.

Can't get particularly excited about Rugby (the town either), but good to see the train service plan seemed to work pretty well given the large crowds.  A few delays in departure due to awaiting supporters to get to the trains, but minimal delays to the four extra London trains arrival times.

The logistics of providing all these extra trains very late on a Friday night shouldn't be underestimated.

This is what I like about the location of the Millennium Stadium, right in the city centre so the atmosphere builds before the game. Cardiff City Centre on match day is a great place to be even if your not attending the match just for the atmosphere.

Twickenham on the other hand has no such city centre around so other than a couple of local pubs, the crowd go to the game and back out again straight after.

When I go to Millennium Stadium I make a day of it and spend the whole day in Cardiff. When I go to Twickenham I arrive in the area an hour before kick off and leave pretty much at the final whistle.

I've been known to go to watch Wales rather than England just because of the Cardiff atmosphere on match days.

Oh I don't know - I could tell a great story about parking up a dark alleyway there in the middle of the night to rescue a damsel in distress and her children ... that was an exciting night!   ;D  ;D

Oh go on Graham, you can't leave us dangling there :) but I think this would be better moved out of the public area :)

For anyone driving into Wales along the M4 for the game yesterday it looked horrendous.

I came out of Bristol onto the M4 at J19 at around 3pm, to head home eastbound, and there was a queue going the other way from a few miles east of the junction. That must be the best part of 30 miles from Cardiff!

Great England come back and win, by the way  :)

"Couple of local pubs?" which Twickenham have you been going to? There's at least 8 between the station and the end of the High St including the huge Weatherspoons, then there's Richmond just down the road, Whitton, and it's v easy to get into London.........all this dispersal makes it a much nicer place to have a beer than central Cardiff, which although pleasant enough is v small and what pubs there are (especially since the late lamented Vulcan!) are absolutely rammed.....coupled with the early last trains back to England (even on a normal Saturday!) give me Twickenham any time! :)

......but Stade de France, now there's a stadium - excellent public transport for one thing, puts the UK to shame, back into central Paris in a matter of minutes!

My commiserations to Coffee Shop member John R ...  ;) :D ;D

At least the Welsh U20s managed to beat their English counterparts 21-15.

At twickenham, generally park on site or next to the stoop, for somebody who doesn't know the area I discovered two pubs and a Tesco.
Cardiff no parking at the stadium, so naturally end up parking somewhere that involves walking through the city centre.
As an Englishman it ashames me to say the cardiff match day experience is ten times that of twickenham.

Worth remembering of course that all the other 6 Nations venues are in  capital cities, whereas Twickenham is in the suburbs, so you're bound to miss out on a few of the logistical benefits.............if anyone is in search of decent hostelries in the wider Twickenham area to visit on matchdays I'd be happy to share the details of a few less well known venues, some of which you might even get a seat in! :)