SCOTRAIL has announced that trains on the Borders Railway will be carrying extra carriages to cope with crowds arriving for the Melrose Sevens.

Thousands of rugby fans are set to descend on the region for the tournament on Saturday, April 13, and the under-fire rail operator plans to accommodate them with additional seats.

ScotRail Head of Customer Operations, Phil Campbell, said: “We’re set to have a great weekend of sport and with lots of fans travelling to events right across Scotland, it’s going to be a busy few days.

“To help the events run smoothly, we’ll be adding extra seats to hundreds of trains over the weekend.

“Although we can’t make every train longer, we will be using every train we can.

“I encourage anyone travelling this weekend to allow extra time for travel and, to minimise the need to queue, buy your tickets in advance via our app or website.”

The Borders Railway has been beset with cancellations in recent weeks and ScotRail has faced political pressure to improve services.

Local MSP Christine Grahame recently invited ScotRail CEO Alex Hynes to experience a rush hour journey on the Borders Railway.

She said: “ScotRail is in its last chance saloon if it wants to keep its franchise, and it has to start making real progress to getting services running properly as a matter of urgency.

“This is why I've written to Mr Hynes to invite him to accompany me on a morning peak train journey from Tweedbank to Waverley, so he can see for himself the real experiences of my constituents in trying to use the service day to day.”