WITH the Rugby World Cup continuing with games in Cardiff, Arriva Trains Wales has sent out advice ahead of the matches on Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2.
Arriva Trains Wales is also advising customers that rail services will be extremely busy with thousands of fans expected to arrive.
Arriva Trains Wales, Great Western Railway and Cross Country will be adding significant extra capacity and services before and after the match, however trains are likely to be busy with standing room only on some services. Rail operators can typically transport up to 47,000 rugby fans to and from Cardiff on a match days, which includes 14,000 extra capacity especially for Rugby World Cup events.
On Thursday, October 1, the Fan Zone will be operating at Cardiff Arms Park, which is an ideal place to go after the match but customers are strongly advised to check the time of the last rail services.
On Friday, October 2, due to the late kick off, all fans needing to travel by train must go directly to Cardiff Central Station after the match.
For safety reasons there will be a post-match queuing system for entry into Cardiff Central Rail Station. The operation of this has now been completely revised to ensure that the destination specific queues flow without unnecessary delay. A frequent bus shuttle will operate as the priority service for everyone travelling to Bristol Parkway.
On Friday, families with children younger than five years will be able to use the high accessibility lane near the centre of the queuing system as will those who need assistance due to being pregnant or impaired mobility and special needs.
Other important improvements to the capacity, number and timing of trains have also been made to ensure customer waiting times are kept to a minimum. Due to the extremely high volume of people using rail services (anticipated to be around 35,000), customers are advised that queuing times after the match may be up to two hours for some destinations, but not for all.
Cardiff Queen Street station will close at 6.30pm on Thursday and 9.15pm on Friday.
On Saturday, October 3, there will be some amendments to the early morning timetables on the local Cardiff and Valleys routes due to the extra services provided on Friday night.
Train customers can ‘check before they travel’ at arrivatrainswales.co.uk
For the latest reports, follow us on Twitter @ArrivaTW
Arriva Trains Wales would like to thank customers in advance for their patience during this busy period.
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