SCOTRAIL is reviewing how it plans for major events after passengers faced significant disruption to services at Edinburgh Waverley last month.

Commuters experienced overcrowding, delays and cancellations at the station on Saturday August 24.

The temporary closure of one of Waverley or Haymarket stations is an option being considered by the rail operator.

The disruption came on the final weekend of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, while a Scotland v France rugby match also took place at Murrayfield on the Saturday.

Speaking at the Scottish Parliament yesterday, ScotRail boss Alex Hynes told MSPs the review would impact not just the train network but also events management across Edinburgh.

He suggested it was not “wise” for an international rugby match to have been scheduled to take place on the busiest festival weekend.

Hynes said: “We took many people into Edinburgh and clearly the numbers of people who wanted to travel back at the same time created some pressure on the system. We had three circumstances where passengers actually pulled the passenger alarm, which meant that trains were brought to a stand, and clearly in an event which caused that much customer pain.”