Special train services for Wales and Wrexham fixtures

Transport for Wales is running extra train services to support Welsh football fans travelling to Cardiff for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan.

The match, which kicks off at 19:45 on Saturday, March 22, is Wales’ first fixture in Group J as they aim for a place in the 2026 tournament.

Supporters from north Wales will benefit from additional services, with extra trains running between Cardiff and Chester on both Saturday night and Sunday morning.

There is also good news for Wrexham AFC fans, as strengthened services have been arranged for their League One match against Stockport the same day.

In a further boost, pre-planned engineering works between Shrewsbury and Wrexham, which could have disrupted travel, have been moved.

Network Rail had originally scheduled maintenance work for the weekend, but following discussions with Transport for Wales, some of the work has been pushed to Sunday morning and the rest rescheduled for February 2026.

Transport for Wales’ Customer Delivery and Special Events Planning Manager, Georgie Wills, said:
“We know just how important major sporting, music and cultural events are to the economies we serve.

“Working with the FAW, we know that supporters from north Wales are increasingly coming to rely on our services to get down to Cardiff and back, which is a testament to the improvements made over the past 18 months. So once again, we’ve been able to run some extra trains to support those who want to travel home after the game, above what is in our standard timetable.”

Nick Millington, Network Rail’s Wales and Borders route director, explained how the decision was made to reschedule the engineering works.

“Our partners at Transport for Wales asked us to move our engineering work to accommodate the significant number of Wales football supporters looking to get to and from north Wales for the match against Kazakhstan in Cardiff.

“The work between Shrewsbury and Wrexham was planned to take place between Saturday morning and Monday morning. However, we have been able to move some of it to Sunday morning between 1am and 9.30am, and the rest until February 2026.

“It’s not always possible to move such work, but in this instance, we were able to accommodate the request, and we are happy to assist TfW’s plan to run additional services on Saturday night and Sunday morning.”

The additional train services are as follows:

Saturday 22 March

22.20 from Cardiff Central to Chester (additional)

17.17 from Wrexham General to Holyhead (retimed & strengthened to support event end)

17.48 from Wrexham General to Birmingham New Street (strengthened to support event end)

Sunday 23 March

11.08 from Cardiff Central to Chester (additional). There is a connecting service to the North Wales coast.