ScotRail to add extra seats on trains for big weekend of sport

Extra carriages are being added to hundreds of trains ahead of a big weekend of Scottish sport.

Football fans from across the country will flock to Hampden Park for the Scottish Cup semi-finals, rugby supporters are set to travel to the Borders for the Melrose Sevens and punters will descend on Ayr for the Scottish Grand National Festival.

ScotRail has announced it will lay on more seating to cater for the bumper weekend of sporting action, which begins on Friday, April 12 with the start of Scottish Grand National Festival.

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The big race itself takes place the following day and the rail operator 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 on Saturday, April 13, when Hearts take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle at 12.15pm, and on Sunday, April 14 as Aberdeen face Celtic in a 2pm kick-off.

While longer trains will be used between Glasgow and Mount Florida — the closest station to the stadium — customers are advised to leave plenty of 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.

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Saturday also sees the Melrose Sevens take place in the Borders.

To help the event run smoothly, ScotRail will add extra carriages to trains to and from Tweedbank throughout the day.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail’s head of customer operations, 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.

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“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.

Alcohol bans will be in place on the following routes: all ScotRail services between 9pm and 10am, as normal; Glasgow Central/Kilmarnock/Stranraer — Ayr on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13; and Glasgow Central — Mount Florida/King’s Park on Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14.