ScotRail has announced it will add extra carriages to hundreds of trains this weekend as it prepares for a big weekend of sport.
Football fans from across Scotland will be flocking to Hampden for the Scottish Cup semi-finals, rugby fans travel to the Borders for the Melrose Sevens, while punters head to Ayr for the Scottish Grand National Festival.
The bumper weekend of sport gets underway on Friday 12 April with the start of Scottish Grand National Festival. The big race itself takes place on Saturday 13 April, and ScotRail is adding extra carriages to trains between Glasgow and Ayr and Inverclyde for both days of the race meeting.
More seats will be provided for fans travelling to the Scottish Cup semi-finals at Hampden Park on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 April. Hearts take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle at 12.15pm on Saturday 13 April, while Aberdeen travel to the national stadium to face holders Celtic in the 2pm kick off on Sunday 14 April.
While longer trains will be used between Glasgow and Mount Florida – the closest station to the stadium - customers are being advised to leave extra time for their journeys. Glasgow Central is expected to be extremely busy, particularly on Saturday, and queueing systems will be in place at key stations.
Fans travelling from Inverness and Aberdeen are being asked to consider their travel options, as services heading south will be busy.
Saturday 13 April also sees the Melrose Sevens take place in the Borders. To help the event run smoothly, ScotRail is adding extra carriages to trains to and from Tweedbank throughout the day.
ScotRail Head of Customer Operations Phil Campbell said:
“We’re set to have a great weekend of sport, and with lots of fans travelling to events right across Scotland, it’s going to be a busy few days.
“To help the events run smoothly, we’ll be adding extra seats to hundreds of trains over the weekend. And although we can’t make every train longer, we will be using every train we can.
“I encourage anyone travelling this weekend to allow extra time for travel, and to minimise the need to queue, buy your tickets in advance via our app or website.”
ScotRail will have extra staff on hand to assist customers and, as with most major events, alcohol bans will be in place.