Hain intervenes in rugby rail row

Train services for the England match are in question

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain is to meet the chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority to try to change a rail company's decision to suspend many of its services after a Six Nations rugby match.

Rail operator Wales and Borders Trains has cancelled all its services running east of Newport towards London and the west of England on the evening of the Wales v England game on 22 February.

Peter Hain wants a reversal of Wales and Borders Trains' decision

The game, which is being broadcast live by the BBC, has been scheduled for a late 1730 GMT kick-off by the Six Nations organising committee.

The later match time was decided on to avoid a clash with the Italy v Ireland game which is due to be televised earlier in the day.

Wales and Borders Trains has said it fears that fans will be crushed when 28,000 people try to catch trains home after the game at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

But Mr Hain said the situation was likely to be repeated in future, calling the row a "poor advertisement for Wales".

Later on Wednesday Mr Hain is meeting the chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), Richard Bowker, to try to bring pressure on Wales and Borders to reconsider.

The SRA is an authority set up to deliver the government's plans for the railways over the next 10 years.

'Unacceptable'

Ahead of the meeting Mr Hain said: "I have to say it is completely unacceptable.

"I'll be asking the chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority to personally intervene and use his powers to see this is solved.

"I understand that this issue will not be a one-off.

"The contractual arrangement the BBC has to cover matches means that 1730 GMT kick-offs will be repeated.

"Cardiff is rapidly reaching towards becoming a world-class city and it is unacceptable that rail companies cannot provide a world-class service or even a half-decent service that runs after 1930 GMT.

'Poor advertisement'

"It's a very poor advertisement for Wales and I want to this problem cracked."

Mr Hain added said forcing more fans to travel by road would create additional problems.

He added: "I've talked to the chief constables of South Wales Police and Gwent Police and they said it would cause a more difficult situation to shove everyone on the roads with more coaches coming into Cardiff to pick up fans.

Fans face difficulties leaving the game

"I don't accept that there is no practical solution to this practical problem."

Wales and Borders made the decision to cut services towards London and other parts of England after the 1730 GMT kick-off was announced, saying the late finish to the game would place Cardiff's two stations under an intolerable strain.

The company has cancelled train services east of Newport and is instead running shuttle services to Newport where fans can continue their journey by road.

The company plans to run a normal service west from Cardiff and to the south Wales valleys.

Crowd safety

Managing Director of Wales and Borders Trains, Chris Gibb, has already said the company will not compromise the safety of the travelling fans.

He has said he wants to avoid crowd problems similar to those which led to the Hillsborough football disaster in 1989, when 96 fans were crushed to death.

Meanwhile, the Millennium Stadium Events Liaison Group has urged fans to travel by coach because of the uncertainty over the train services.

Ian Body, chairman of the group, said: "I am confident we have ample parking facilities for coaches and cars to house the 74,000 fans that will be travelling to the city."

The Conservatives' transport spokesman in the Welsh Assembly, David Davies, has also attacked the uncertainly surrounding transport arrangements at the game.

He said: "It is hard to believe the National Rail Enquiries Service 'don't know' what trains will be running on the day."