Major travel delays expected for fans heading to Edinburgh Rugby v Glasgow Warriors game at Murrayfield

Rugby fans warned of travel disruption ahead of Capital showdown

Sports fans heading to the Edinburgh Rugby v Glasgow Warriors game have been warned of major delays owing to engineering work at Haymarket station.

Thousands of rugby enthusiasts are expected to attend the event at BT Murrayfield on Saturday at 3pm.

But the British Transport Police has advised they take note of the extensive work ongoing at Haymarket - which is resulting in bus replacement services and lengthy additional journey times - to plan journeys in advance.

This follows a previous warning from ScotRail that all trains would be 'extremely busy' while the work is underway today, on Saturday and on Sunday morning.

Taking to social media, transport police advised fans of the 'important travel information'.

Network Rail engineers have been working around the clock since Christmas Day, on to December 29, to upgrade Haymarket East junction, renewing four sets of points (rails which move to transfer trains from one line to another) and replacing more than 250 metres of track.

Engineering works are in place at Haymarket. Picture: Neil Hanna/TSPL

Haymarket junction, which lies to the west of the station, is one of the busiest in Scotland and is used by up to 30 trains an hour.

Network Rail say the upgrade will help improve the reliability of the track and will mean the junction won’t need to be renewed again for decades.

The work was timed to coincide with the Christmas and Boxing day holidays, when no ScotRail trains run into Edinburgh.

Liam Sumpter, Network Rail Scotland Route Director, said: “Haymarket East junction is a key part of Scotland’s Railway and is used by hundreds of trains a day travelling to destinations across Scotland and England.

“We understand the inconvenience this work will cause to some passengers, but renewing such a complex piece of our railway cannot be accomplished without a short-term closure of the line.

“Our engineers have carefully planned this project to be completed as quickly as possible and we are working hard alongside our train operators to keep passengers informed of the changes to services during this important investment in the railway.”