Next Saturday, 4th February, Great Western Railway trains will run over 60 trains providing nearly 30,000 seats to help rugby fans attending Cardiff for Wales’ opening Six Nations match against Ireland.

Although industrial action will affect services on Friday, the company expects that Saturday services will be unaffected. Before the match, which kicks off at 14.15, 17 extra trains will be laid on, and another 23 will depart from Cardiff afterwards. Transport for Wales services will not be affected by this week’s industrial action

.

A shuttle service of electric trains will operate with the first one between Cardiff Central and Newport departing at 1711, to London Paddington at 1740, and to Swindon at 1840.

As usual for Six Nations matches, a queuing system will be in place outside Cardiff Central station, with supporters travelling east towards Newport queuing on the square in front of the station instead of Riverside Car Park.

Further information about Saturday’s arrangements can be obtained online at gwr.com

GWR Customer Service & Operations Director, Richard Rowland, said: “Although industrial action will significantly impact services across the GWR network on Wednesday and Friday, we expect to be able to operate a normal timetable on Thursday and Saturday.

“That’s obviously good news for rugby fans travelling to Cardiff and we hope they enjoy the start of this year’s Six Nations.

“We’re pleased to have been able to put on some additional services, but we’d like to remind supporters that trains will be extremely busy leading up to kick-off and immediately following the match.

“We would encourage customers to check journey times and allow sufficient time to queue to board trains safely.”

TfW Head of Planning, Adam Terry, said: “We look forward to welcoming tens of thousands of rugby supporters onto our services for the first of Wales’ two home fixtures in this year’s Six Nations.

“We will have every available train in use and will be strengthening services to and from Cardiff to provide as much capacity as possible.

“Peak time rail services before and after the match are likely to be very busy, so passengers are advised to make use of earlier and later trains, or book one of the TfW coaches to ensure you have a guaranteed seat to get to the game and home afterwards.

“A queuing system will be in place at Cardiff Central after the game and we’ll be working alongside the other train operators to get passengers home as quickly and as safely as possible.”