SCOTRAIL is helping racegoers attending this year’s Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Festival by laying on extra trains and extra carriages.

The event runs from September 19-21, with the latest renewal of Scotland’s most famous flat race taking place on Saturday.

Services will be busier than normal with around 10,000 people expected to use trains to travel to and from the Ayrshire town on the final day of the meeting.

To help the event run smoothly, ScotRail is adding additional services before and after the event on Saturday, with extra carriages at key times between Ayr and Glasgow.

Ayr station is approximately one hour by train from Glasgow Central and then it’s around a 10-minute walk to the racecourse.

Customers are encouraged to plan ahead and leave additional time for travel as queuing systems may be in place at Glasgow Central prior to the meeting and at Ayr station after the racing ends.

To reduce the need to queue, customers should buy their return tickets to Ayr in advance via the mTicket system on the ScotRail app.

The train operator is also reminding everyone that the carrying and consumption of alcohol is prohibited on ScotRail trains and in ScotRail stations.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail customer operations director, said: “ScotRail is looking forward to helping make the Ayr Gold Cup Festival a success.

"We know the meeting has a special place in the hearts of Scottish racegoers, so we’ll will be doing all we can to help customers get to and from the track as efficiently and comfortably as possible.

“We will be adding additional services before and after the big race on Saturday, as well as laying on extra carriages on the services that we know from experience will be busiest between Ayr and Glasgow.

“Customers are advised to plan their journeys in advance and should remember that our ban on drinking alcohol in our stations or on our trains remains in place.”