ScotRail promises Borders rugby fans it will try to avert repeat of shambles after Scotland’s last Murrayfield game

Scotland rugby coach Gregor Townsend at Linlithgow this week for the announcement of his world cup squad.

Services from Edinburgh to Tweedbank went into meltdown on Saturday, August 24, as hundreds of sports fans heading home after seeing the national side beat France 17-14 in a Rugby World Cup warm-up game at Murrayfield were either crammed into overcrowded carriages or turned away and forced to try to hire taxis instead.

ScotRail is pledging to be better prepared as Gregor Townsend fields a side including fellow Borderer Darcy Graham for Scotland’s last preparatory game before heading to Japan for the world cup, against Georgia at 7.30pm tomorrow, September 6, though.

The company’s head of customer operations, Phil Campbell, said: “It’s the last big weekend of sport for a while, and it’s going to be a busy few days.

“To help the events run smoothly, we’ll be adding extra seats to as many trains as possible, and although we can’t make every train longer, we will be using every train we can.”

“I encourage anyone travelling to the games to allow extra time for travel, and to minimise the need to queue, buy your tickets to Haymarket in advance on the ScotRail app or website.”

Transport difficulties for Borders rugby fans returning from 67,000-capacity Murrayfield last time round were compounded by it being the last night of 2019’s Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo and Edinburgh Festival fringe events still being staged, and there will also be a complicating factor tomorrow in the form of the Scottish national football team’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Russia 45 miles west at Hampden Park in Glasgow, kicking off at 7.45pm.