Cardiff Half Marathon

Rail industrial action on event weekend

We wanted to make you aware that industrial action has been announced by the ASLEF Union on Saturday 30 September 2023, impacting those travelling to the race by train. In addition, there will be overtime bans across the UK rail network on Friday 29 September and from Monday 2 to Friday 6 October.

We advise all runners who were due to travel by train to plan ahead and check before travelling. You may wish to consider alternative travel arrangements, such as travelling by coach.

This is likely to significantly affect the following train companies. You can click on the below links to find out more information from each Train Operator. Where there is no link, we will publish information as soon as it is made available:

Transport for Wales (TfW) is not involved in the industrial action. TfW services will be running but other train operators’ services across the whole of Wales, England and Scotland will be limited. Some of their services are likely to be extremely busy as a result of the severely-reduced timetable put in place by other operators.

Check before you travel:

The National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner is currently showing the normal planned service for the strike days, which is subject to change. The amended timetables are expected to be showing correctly in Journey Planners at the following times:

  • For journeys on 29 and 30 September, please check back on Friday 22 September
  • For journeys from 2 to 6 October, please check back on Wednesday 27 September

Making alternative arrangements:

Bus and coach services will be running from various cities into Cardiff on race weekend, with availability on Saturday 30 September and Sunday 1 October. Additional services will likely be provided by National Express, Stagecoach and Megabus where possible because of the industrial action.

Stagecoach also provide local buses in and out of Cardiff from various locations across South East Wales and for runners arriving from overseas, coach services are available to Cardiff from various UK airports via providers like National Express.

Traveline Cymru has a useful journey planner, including public transport, walking and cycling details.

For those now looking to drive to the event, we offer a pre-bookable ‘Park & Walk’ facility at the Cardiff City Stadium, with a discount available to those lift-sharing in a minibus or coach. If you were planning to drive to the event, you may wish to leave earlier as we anticipate greater volumes of traffic on the morning of the race.

For overseas entrants arriving by air:

Local buses are available between Cardiff Airport and Cardiff City Centre. There is also a train station at Rhoose.

Coach services between Bristol Airport and Cardiff are available from Megabus and National Express. There are also options from Bristol City Centre from Megabus, National Express, FlixBus and others (you can get between the airport and city centre using the airport shuttle).

Coach services between London Heathrow and Cardiff are available from Megabus, National Express and Flixbus. Coach services between London Gatwick and Cardiff are available from Megabus, National Express and Flixbus. There are also coach services between London Victoria Coach Station and Cardiff.

We’re disappointed that the strike action will impact the experience of runners travelling to Cardiff for the race and understand and share your frustration. We will continue to update runners if any additional information becomes available but advise trying to make alternative travel arrangements as soon as possible.  

As we are not in a position to advise on alternative transport options, we would suggest speaking to the relevant transport operators, as they will have the most up-to-date information and detailed advice available.

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