A UNION has called for an inquiry into the chaos of overcrowding, delays and cancellations on services from Edinburgh

on Saturday night as ScotRail issued an apology.

The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association union said that the issues were "symptomatic of long-term mismanagement at ScotRail".

Rail users described major disruption to and from Waverley and Haymarket as people packed onto platforms and attempted to board already jammed trains.

READ MORE: ScotRail apologise over 'shambles' introduction of new winter timetable

It came during the last weekend of the Edinburgh festivals, while Murrayfield hosted Scotland's international rugby friendly victory over France.

Many passengers took to social media to criticise the train firm, claiming they failed to plan for the busy weekend.

Gill Craig said a number of trains to Glasgow Queen Street from Edinburgh Waverley were cancelled before she was finally able to board.

Manuel Cortes, TSSA general secretary said: “Transport Secretary Michael Matheson must call an enquiry into yesterday’s events to ensure we see no repeat performance.

READ MORE: How ScotRail's bid to create 'best railway Scotland has ever had' remains off track

“All credit must go to our members in ScotRail who under difficult and stressful circumstances did their best to get passengers home safely It’s a shame Abellio are more interested in profiteering than in matching their staff’s commitment customer service.

“No-one coming home from Scotland’s capital should expect to experience platform overcrowding or to be squashed into trains like cattle at 23:30, Festival or no Festival.”

A ScotRail spokesman said: "We're sorry to our customers who experienced disruption and busy services.

"We do all that we can to meet demand. Every available train we have was out on the network to get our customers where they needed to be.

"Customers delayed by 30 minutes or more are encouraged to claim for money back via our Delay Repay Guarantee on our website or mobile app."

It comes after thousands of ScotRail services were cancelled after the winter timetable introduction 'chaos' because of staff shortages, leading to a series of apologies.

The scale of disruption caused by staff being trained how to operate new trains saw an average of 46 services a day axed towards the end of 2018.

READ MORE: 'National embarrassment': More complaints over ScotRail disruption four months after winter timetable chaos

It led to ScotRail, run by Dutch transport firm Abellio, having to submit a plan to the Scottish Government to address falling performance levels which if unsuccessful could have resulted in a breach of contract and the early loss of the franchise.

A total of 2,691 ScotRail services were cancelled due to a lack of staff between April 2018 and 16 January 2019.

Most of the disruption that hit Scots railways since the timetable launch in December 9 was due to ScotRail staff shortages, and the train operator has previously said that is partly because many have been undergoing training.

ScotRail said at the time that was partly caused by the late arrival of the new Hitachi Class 385 and high-speed InterCity trains.

The train operator said the lag in staff training was made worse as a result of RMT industrial action over a pay dispute that lasted several weeks but was resolved in December.

Vikki Wood was among the complainers in the latest disruption to hit Scotland's railways.

She said: "People are fight to get on. Animals in cargo are treated better."

Another woman said she was met with a "riot" and "total crush", and said a man was pushed from a carriage and almost fell onto the tracks.

Twitter user @Sam_Lazzurs said her train was more than an hour late in departing for Glasgow.

READ MORE: ScotRail 'now beyond a joke' after train overcrowding on Six Nations weekend

She said: "Went for 11:16 train from Edinburgh-Glasgow only to be met with a riot.

"Got on train & it was a total crush. A man was pushed out of a carriage and nearly fell onto the tracks and men fighting each other to get space on the train.

"Eventually left Edinburgh at 12:30!"