ScotRail rugby chaos
Misery for Six Nations fans as trains grind to a halt just before big game
RUGBY fans travelling to Murrayfield yesterday faced travel chaos on two railway routes to Edinburgh.
Hundreds of sports fans heading to the Scotland v Wales Six Nations rugby match were hit by delays caused by a fault with overhead lines at Haymarket.
Services between Helensburgh and Edinburgh and between Milngavie and the capital via Airdrie were affected.
Meanwhile, travellers at Glasgow Queen Street hoping to get to Edinburgh had to stand in queues for hours. Many were forced to wait outside in the wind and rain in the rail station car park while operators tried to get the electric trains back in service.
ScotRail originally told passengers delays would last until 11.45am, giving fans enough time to make it to Murrayfield before kick-off.
But a later announcement from the rail operator said the disruption would last until 2pm – only 25 minutes before the start of the match.
Dozens of travellers took to Twitter to vent their frustration at ScotRail and criticise its lack of preparation before a national sporting event. Barbara Ridley tweeted: ‘@ScotRail nightmare... Glasgow to Edinburgh, queues at Queen Street, standing room only on the trains.’ Diane Aitken wrote: ‘@ScotRail know it’ll be busy but don’t schedule extra staff or more carriages to meet demand #ScotFail.’
And Laura Barry tweeted: ‘@SixNationsRugby we are all stuck on a bus... and going to be late thanks to @ ScotRail!!! Please wait for us!’
She then added: ‘@ScotRail we were chucked off a train in Bathgate at 1.15... and now stuck on a bus... FULL of angry supporters AND we will be on a tram!’
A spokesman for the ScotRail Alliance body said that engineers had worked quickly to resolve the issue, adding: ‘We tried to keep customers moving by sourcing replacement buses and arranging for valid train tickets to be used on First and Lothian Buses.
‘Our engineers worked as fast as possible to fix the fault and return services to normal. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this disruption.’
Some passengers were able to use their train tickets to travel via First Bus between Bathgate and Edinburgh and between Bathgate and Falkirk, as well as from Edinburgh Park on the tram service and on trains into Edinburgh.
But many of those who waited to travel by train found themselves squashed and standing in overcrowded carriages. The disruption ended around 3pm.
‘Stuck on a bus full of angry supporters’