Six Nations fans hit by rail misery

AN electrical wire fault left rugby fans heading to see Scotland’s Six Nations clash with Wales facing severe disruption on the rails.

Technical problems on two major routes to Edinburgh resulted in services being cancelled and replacement buses being rolled out.

The disruption, which lasted right up until the 2.25pm kick- off at Murrayfield, saw long queues at Glasgow’s Queen Street Station.

Those affected were told to keep their tickets to claim compensation if they were delayed by more than 30 minutes.

One passenger posted on Twitter: “On a bus in the middle of nowhere. Been on it for an hour now after being told that was my only option by ScotRail staff.”

Another said: “Why no express buses at Bathgate where I was chucked off? Now on a ludicrously circuitous tour through West Lothian.”

The problems affected services between Helensburgh and Edinburgh, and between Milngavie and the capital, via Airdrie. Once the fault was rectified, passengers still faced delays due to the backlog of travellers.

A spokesman for the ScotRail Alliance said : “Due to a fault with the overhead wires in the Haymarket area services were disrupted. 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.

“We remind customers delayed more than 30 minutes, they are entitled to compensation under our Delay Repay guarantee provided they keep hold of their tickets.”

The 67,000 sell- out fixture was Scotland’s second home match of the tournament, with Vern Cotter’s side securing a hard-fought 29-13 victory.

See Sport for full coverage of the match.