London Midland and Wasps have announced the introduction of additional rugby special services on match days.

Rugby fans will be able to catch the train to and from Coventry Arena for Wasps games against Harlequins and Leicester Tigers. Rugby special charter trains will run between Coventry and Nuneaton, calling at Coventry Arena on Sunday 28 February and Saturday 12 March.

The match day specials will include a six carriage train running between Coventry and Nuneaton stations, stopping at Coventry Arena. The shuttle service will provide an extra 1,000 seats on the route before and after each game.

London Midland and Wasps will also be promoting a special joint ticket that will give rail users a discount at the Arena bars offering a free drink to users of the rugby special train service. This will be available from railway booking offices for on the day ticket purchases.

London Midland’s head of Regional Services, Steven Fisher commented, “We listened to fans and stakeholders and made a commitment to look at every possible option. While London Midland has no additional trains for match days, we have hired in charter services to test the idea of running rugby specials.”

Andy Gibb, managing director of Arena Coventry Limited said, ”The rail station next to the Ricoh Arena is a great asset. With further planned investment rail travel to the stadium will get even easier. We have worked hard with London Midland to find a solution in the short term. We will be doing all we can to raise awareness of the test services and we hope Wasps fans will get on board with the trial.”

London Midland and Wasps will review the operational and commercial performance of the test services before deciding on next steps.