WE'VE seen thousands of rugby fans travelling from all corners of the country - and the world - to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for the Rugby World Cup. Unfortunately for some, the journey hasn't always been plain sailing, especially when it comes to travelling by train. Chris Seal reports.

OVER the last few weeks thousands of sports fans have come to the Millennium Stadium to watch Wales in action in the Rugby World Cup.

Welsh fans have been joined by supporters of Uruguay, Fiji, New Zealand, Georgia, Ireland, Australia and Canada in this global contest.

But amidst all the thrills of watching rugby’s premiere competition, transport for fans coming to watch their heroes in action has been a thorny issue.

The train system has come increasingly under the spotlight in the last few weeks, with many people complaining about carriages over capacity, long waits in queues, and struggles to get to matches on time.

Welsh rugby fans have grown used to the queuing system in place at Cardiff Central Station for the Six Nations, autumn internationals and other major events taking place in the capital city over the last few years.

It has safely accommodated the legions of fans as they await their journey home, whether they are celebrating or commiserating their team’s performance after the match.

In some circumstances stewards have been known to hand out ponchos in a bid to keep travellers dry when the weather turns against them.

But there has been mounting criticism over the last few weeks, with some fans having to wait up to three hours at Cardiff Central Station before they can get their train home. It’s not just rugby fans travelling from across the border, but many from across Gwent have also had to wait because of the delays.

The whole system has come under greater scrutiny, as train operators look at how they can improve their efficiency without going over capacity.

Last week we caught up with Lynne Milligan, customer services director from Arriva Trains Wales, to see how the train operator’s service had changed over the years and how they were adapting to the increased footfall of hosting fixtures from an event such as the Rugby World Cup.

She said that the queuing system, which had been in place since the stadium was built in 1999, had been “safety validated” to ensure that everything was under control.

“It’s a small station with seven platforms, so it’s about keeping everyone safe while they are waiting for their train to come in,” she said.

“That’s why it’s in place.”

She added that the system had been forced to change over the years due to the number of people using it, as more and more people used trains to get into the city centre instead of driving or hiring a taxi.

“It’s evolved as the numbers have got bigger using the trains for events in the city,” she said.

“We used to have around 15-20,000, but we now have between 25-30,000, depending on what the event is.

“We have had to think carefully of utilising different areas, such as parking zones around the back, as the queues have got bigger.

“There are three train operating companies out of Cardiff Central Station: Great West Railway, who covers Bristol and London; Cross Country who covers Birmingham; while we cover north Wales, the Valleys lines and West Wales, and they are all catered for in different queues.

“Each company has a different number of trains, but we have double the amount of capacity normally in place for that time of day.

“Trains usually go into the depot around 8pm, but on match days they will stay until the match has finished.

It changes people’s plans as usually they’ll go out for food afterwards, but with a later kick off its a more condensed period of time.”

She added that for events such as the World Cup there was a bigger influx of people coming from the likes of Bristol and London by train, rather than from surrounding areas, so it presented different challenges.

“We have got some fixed parameters as we only have a certain amount of trains, staff and platforms at the station. We are always working within those parameters,” she said.

“Kick offs at 8pm are a lot more challenging than matches that take place in the afternoon as we are having to balance a normal service for other customers while being able to provide for people going to events.

“We have only got a fixed number of trains who operate across the whole of Wales, and pulling from other routes when we focus on the city centre can create issues.”

She added that 40,000 used the trains on Thursday night for Wales’s match against Fiji, and that footfalls of that height raised a lot of questions about how to deal with such a huge influx of people.

“It’s a question of maths and logistics,” she said.

“We have a certain amount of trains and people getting on them.

“In means that in some circumstances people will have to stand.

“Rail services have recently increased in popularity and that creates its own challenges as more people are choosing to come by train.”

After mounting criticism from fans during the Rugby World Cup, where many trains reached capacity and buses were also recruited to accommodate the sheer number of those travelling, Ms Milligan said that they would be holding a debrief to discuss how to tackle similar major events in future.

“We learn from what’s going on and keeping the trains running,” she said.

“We have already seen the success of some of our schemes, such as broadcasting changes to services via Twitter, and that has really helped people in queues.”

She added: “Arriva Trains Wales, Great Western Railway and Cross Country Trains are working with the Rugby World Cup organisers, Cardiff County Council and the Welsh Government to improve post-match arrangements and ensure passengers can get on trains as quickly and safely as possible.

“After the matches, additional train services will be available and faster and the safety queuing arrangements for access into Cardiff Central Station have been redesigned to reduce waiting times.”

There has already been some changes made to the queuing system before the New Zealand v Georgia match last week.

The operation was “completely revised” to ensure that the destination specific queues flow without unnecessary delay. A frequent bus shuttle also operated as the priority service for everyone travelling to Bristol Parkway.

On Friday, families with children younger than five-years-old were also able to use the high accessibility lane near the centre of the queuing system, as well as those who need assistance due to being pregnant or impaired mobility and special needs.

Suffice to say it’s clear to see that efforts have been made to tackle the burgeoning train problems for fans heading to and from the Millennium Stadium.

It seems that Welsh rugby fans, indeed most of those from across Gwent, have coped with the manageable queuing system in place during peak times, but the World Cup has shown that even the best laid plans can struggle when there is an enormous amount of people putting a strain on the system.

It can only be hoped that the train operators can learn from the challenges that have been put before them over the last few weeks, and that when Cardiff hosts the likes of the Champions League final in a few years the necessary steps will be taken to ensure that not only is everyone safe, which is always the main priority when it comes to train travel, but that it runs as efficiently as possible.

Either way, the train problems shouldn’t detract from the huge success of Wales hosting matches from the Rugby World Cup, with thousands of fans spending money in the area and boosting the local economy.

When the dust has settled it will be time to look at the strengths and weaknesses of schemes like the queuing system, and in the future there could even be something else to cater for the masses.