ScotRail bosses are considering closing either Waverley or Haymarket during major Edinburgh events, it is being reported.
The shock revelation was made by managing director Alex Hynes to MSPs yesterday (Wednesday).
The idea is that that through the introduction of "quota controls" they'd be able to better manage the number of passengers on the busiest days, preventing incidents such as the overcrowding seen last month.
The rail operator had to apologise after train cancellations led to chaotic scenes at Waverley as the city was packed full of people trying to return home after attending the last weekend of the Festival Fringe and the Scotland v France rugby match. and some even had to fight their way on to trains.
As reported by the Daily Record , ScotRail say they are now going to have to "manage" things in a different way in the future. And a review has now been launched that would affect management of rail services in Edinburgh.
Mr Hynes admitted it wasn't wise for an international rugby match to have been scheduled for the busiest weekend of the festival – and said talks with Scottish Rugby were ongoing about this.
He said: "We took many people into Edinburgh and clearly the numbers of people who wanted to travel back at the same time created pressure on the system.
"We're going to have to manage this risk in a different way."
He added: "One of the things we need to think about is do we put quota controls in on those very, very busy days.
"Is it wise to keep Haymarket and Waverley station open at the same time?
"These are all things that we're thinking about."
It was explained that quota controls could even involve special trains and the availability of certain different types of ticket.
However the suggestion didn't go down too well with some. Scottish Lib Dem transport spokesman Mike Rumbles said: " ScotRail have been given this franchise to smoothly operate the railways, not pull the plug on stations when the going gets tough."
And Tory MSP Jamie Greene said: "It is astonishing to suggest the best way to manage large volumes of passengers is to close stations when access to them is needed most."
After last month's chaotic scenes ScotRail said there would be an internal review into the situation.
They said at the time: "We're sorry to our customers who experienced disruption and busy services yesterday (Saturday).
"We do all that we can to meet demand. Every available train we have was out on the network to get our customers where they needed to be."
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