WELSH Secretary Peter Hain yesterday stepped in over the Wales v England rugby train row, after Gwent's chief constable said he had serious safety concerns.

Keith Turner warned the minister at a meeting in Cardiff on Monday that a refusal by Wales and Border Trains to lay on trains for England fans would cause safety problems on the M4.

Now Mr Hain has called in Richard Bowker, chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, to sort out the problem.

Ministers were fuming over the refusal of the train company to lay on extra services for the Wales v England Six Nations rugby international. The decision could lead to extra coaches being laid on to carry the England fans back to England.

Mr Hain said: "I talked to the chief constables of Gwent and South Wales on Monday. They assured me that it would create a more difficult situation to shove everybody on to the roads with more and more coaches pouring in to the middle of Cardiff to pick up the fans.

"They think there will be safety problems along the motorway caused by extra pressure." Mr Hain said he had been told by Chris Gibb, managing Director of Wales and Border trains that they could not find the rolling stock or the drivers or conductors.

"I find that mind boggling," Mr Hain said. He said Mr Gibb had also suggested there would be problems if trains were laid on and fans arrived back at Paddington at 1am and 2am.

Mr Hain said: "If fans are happy to arrive back at that time rather than risk a congestion on the motorway then they will have made their own plans. I don't see that is the issue." He said he would ask Mr Bowker to use his powers to get trains laid on.

"This is an important event for Wales Cardiff and Wales' reputation in England." l Monmouth AM David Davies claims rail companies "don't know" what trains will be running to stations in Gwent on the day of the Wales v England match in Cardiff.

The Conservative transport spokesman at the National Assembly said: "I firstly checked the train times on the Internet which suggested a normal schedule for February 22.

"I then telephoned Network Rail's general helpline for confirmation of the times and was told by the operator that she didn't know whether there would be a disruption to normal service on the day of the championship.

"After checking, the operator confirmed that trains would not be running east of Newport after a certain time that day.

"But she couldn't tell me what services would be affected because the rail operating companies would not be supplying definite information until next week."