Commuters using the Great Northern and Thamselink routes have been told to expect additional cancellations this afternoon ahead of England’s World Cup semi-final clash.

Trains serving Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage and St Albans will be affected by the disruption, as training of drivers on the new routes continues.

A message on the Great Northern website reads: “Additional cancellations are to be expected this afternoon.

“The resourcing departments are working hard to ensure that as few services are affected as possible. Further information will be available on this at 16:00.”

Another message said: “We expect services from early afternoon to be extremely busy as people travel home to watch tonight’s World Cup Semi Final.

“If you are planning to do so yourself, please allow plenty of time to travel and check your train times by visiting nationalrail.co.uk.”