Cuts to services on Wrexham to Bidston line on Saturday due to Six Nations Rugby in Cardiff

Transport for Wales (TfW) will, once again, pull one of the two trains running on the Wrexham to Bidston line this Saturday and send it to Cardiff because of the Six Nations Rugby international.

Tens of thousands of rugby fans will descend on Cardiff by train as Wales plays host to Ireland in the Six Nations decider.

Nearly 60,000 people travelled on trains to Cardiff when Wales took on England in February, that’s compared to an average of 29,000 on a typical non-event Saturday says TfW.

Just one train will operate a two-hourly service on Saturday along the Wrexham to Bidston line which serves a number of stations in Flintshire, a bus taking twice as long will fill the gaps left in the timetable.

Taking trains from the Borderlands line to service stations in South Wales is nothing new, Arriva Trains Wales began the practice in 2017 when large scale sporting events were taking place in the Welsh capital, TfW has carried on in the same way.

Anyone who normally uses the first train to get to Bidston for around 8am or Wrexham for around 8:30am will find the replacement bus will get them there about the same time as the next train, an hour later than normal.

A spokesperson for Transport for Wales Rail Services said: “Transport for Wales fully recognises the impact these changes have on the communities we serve and we do not make such decisions lightly.

“Ultimately we had to make the decision based on the significant number of people expected to travel by rail into Cardiff for the final match of the Six Nations to give us the greatest possible capacity to get those people home.

“Moving forwards, new trains are coming onto our network over the coming months which should greatly alleviate the impact on our fleet.”