THE Glasgow Subway will operate almost around the clock during the two weekends of the Commonwealth Games.

On Saturday August 26 and Sunday August 27, athletes will each day be competing in 13 different sports in venues in the city.

The following Saturday, medals in eight sports will be up for grabs while there will be contests in four sports on Sunday, August 3 along with the closing ceremony.

In an attempt to get hundreds of thousands of sports fans safely home, subway bosses have agreed to run the underground system from early in the morning until late at night.

Eric Stewart, assistant chief executive of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, said: "It will be a very early start and a very late finish."

It is understood the Subway could remain operating until around 1.30am on the two weekends to ensure people are not stranded.

Under normal circumstances it opens to the public from Monday to Saturday between 11.30pm and 6.30am. Hours of operation on Sundays are from 10am until 6pm.

Mr Stewart said: "Week days, there will be a peak service running throughout the entire day and every train will be out.

"The trains are 35 years old and need a bit of tender loving care so we are having to do a lot of preparatory work.

"We tend to carry 40,000 passengers a day but we will be looking at around 120,000 passengers.

"It will be busy but we will be staffed up for that and there will be a lot of people to provide assistance.

"For example, if someone turns up with a wheelchair unexpectedly, we will be there to help."