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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
John Jones

People are sharing pictures of packed trains 'crammed like sardines' with few wearing masks ahead of Wales v New Zealand

Train passengers have described being "crammed like sardines" on packed services into Cardiff ahead of today's Wales v New Zealand rugby match.

Pictures shared on Twitter show passengers standing in the aisles with no social distancing and many not wearing masks, as tens of thousands of fans head to the capital for the game.

Saturday's match - which kicks off at 5.15pm - is the first sell-out event at the Principality Stadium since before the Covid pandemic.

Read more: You can follow our live blog as crowds head to the match here.

Earlier this week, Transport for Wales warned that social distancing would be impossible on rail services before and after the international, and urged customers to take this into account before travelling.

The rail company also said they would be running a full timetable "with additional capacity on our busiest trains and all available carriages will be in service".

Passengers said they were "crammed like sardines" on the trains (Twitter)

However, passengers have been quick to criticise how busy the services are.

Journalist Helen Clifton tweeted: "The 13.04 train from Bangor to Cardiff is far too packed, now late, people have missed their connections, driver braking dangerously on arrival at stations. why can't you just put on more and bigger trains @tfwrail?

"We pay enough and people still squeezing on @transport_wales."

Sharing a video of a packed carriage, Leila Al-Badawi said: "Crammed like sardines - train from Milford Haven to Cardiff for a super spreader event. @tfwrail the rugby had been planned for 6 weeks.

"This is shocking - West Wales has the highest infection rate in the whole of UK."

Infection rates in Wales are currently higher than any other part of the UK, with First Minister Mark Drakeford warning on Friday that the country has three weeks to get Covid under control or restrictions will be reintroduced.

Covid passes are also being used at certain types of venues and events - including Saturday's match - and are set to be introduced in theatres and cinemas from November 15.

Others travelling into Cardiff called for more carriages to be used on the services and for mask-wearing to be better enforced, with Brian Hayes posting a photo of a number of his fellow passengers not wearing a mask.

He said: "As you can see everyone obeying the law to wear a mask on the 09.47h train to Cardiff today", followed by three angry emojis.

Transport for Wales had previously warned that social distancing would be impossible on Saturday's services (Twitter)

Great Western Railway passenger Tristan Thomas added: "Good to see @GWRHelp helping people travel sustainably while the UK hosts COP by shortening ten car trains to five with no notice and cancelling all reservations.

"Train packed on way to Cardiff for Wales vs NZ but fans have been unable to get on at every single station."

A Transport for Wales spokesperson responded to some of the tweets saying: "We are running all trains that fit on the network they operate, until our new stock arrives.

"Normally, this is sufficient capacity, but the international game has increased customer numbers by tens of thousands of people. We use all units that are available to us."

Ahead of the weekend, a spokesman for the rail company told WalesOnline: "With 74,500 people at the Principality Stadium and many more thousands expected into Cardiff to watch the game in pubs and other venues, social distancing is not going to be possible on match-day services.

"We would urge customers to take this into account when choosing whether or not to travel and ask everyone using our services to be courteous to fellow passengers and our staff at all times.

"We have a number of measures in place to keep passengers safe including hand sanitiser at stations, enhanced cleaning regimes on trains and stations and queuing systems to control the flow of people into stations and onto trains.

"We would also strongly encourage those travelling shorter distances to walk, cycle or use local bus services."

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