Posted 11th September 2014 | 9 Comments
Government urges operators to target overcrowding
THE Department for Transport is urging train operators to do more to combat overcrowding on peak time trains. The DfT has revealed that the most overcrowded train in England last year was the 16.46 London Midland departure from London Euston for Crewe which had a load factor of 211 per cent, meaning that more than half the passengers on board had to stand.
Conditions on this particular train improved in December 2013, when it became possible to double its length to eight cars. All the trains in the 'top ten' of overcrowded services had load factors over 150 per cent, including South West Trains' 07.32 from Woking to London Waterloo and First Great Western's 07.21 from Oxford to London Paddington, both of which had load factors of 173 per cent.
Transport Minister Claire Perry has reacted to the figures by challenging the rail industry to find new ways to provide more seats on busy trains.
She said: “Since 1995 passenger journeys on the railway have more than doubled, with 1.6 billion journeys being recorded in the last year. This means that on too many journeys, passengers have to stand in cramped conditions. Train operators must act now, they must find new ways to create space on the network and in their trains.
“We are investing more than £38 billion in our railway delivering more trains, more seats and more services and we are pushing ahead with plans for a national high speed rail network that will help solve the problem in the long term. I understand the frustration of rail passengers forced to stand on busy services and that is why I am calling on the operators to do more.”
Labour's shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh said: “As well as enduring inflation busting fares increases, this shows the reality of life for commuters under David Cameron. Some services are carrying twice as many passengers as they should, a far cry from the 'comfortable commuting' which out-of-touch ministers imagine on the railway.
“The government’s West Coast franchise fiasco has delayed investment in new carriages on the Great Western line, where some first class seats have been reclassified as standard seats in a desperate attempt at patch and mend. In the north, Transpennine Express passengers will lose 18 carriages in spring 2015 adding to the problems of Manchester commuters.
“Labour’s plan for the railways would tackle the cost-of-living crisis and drive the biggest reform of the railways since privatisation. We will cap rail fares, legislate for a public sector operator, devolve the running of regional and local services and deliver a railway for passengers, not profit.”
The Rail Delivery Group responded: “Running over 1.5 million extra services a year for passengers compared to 15 years ago has helped transform Britain’s railway into Europe’s fastest growing network. While the official measure of crowding during peak times now compared with then has remained largely unchanged despite a doubling in passenger journeys, we recognise that some services remain crowded and understand people’s frustration when they cannot get a seat.
“Because rail users are at the heart of what we do, the industry is already planning to increase peak time seats into and out of many major cities by a third in the next five years.”
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
phil, Watford
As pointed out, longer trains could be a large part and cheaper part of the solution. If all LM trains out of Euston in the peak were 12 car, problem massively reduced.
Jason, London
Finsbury Park: why have two platforms side by side, requiring a double width platform area?
Why not stagger the platforms, have a single width platform and then beyond that serve the other side. That'd halve the width required for platforms, making more room for tracks.
Jason, London
Overcrowding? Reopen the Northern Heights line from Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill: that'll relieve Kings Cross and Euston Bank Branch during the peak periods, especially if there's an interchange at Drayton Park. At the weekends it could continue on to Moorgate.
To relieve overcrowding by eliminating unnecessary miles travelled across London they should build interchange stations: the Piccadilly Line crosses the Gospel Oak to Barking line at Harringay Green Lanes, but there is no interchange, it's nuts; the Piccadilly Line crosses the Central Line at Park Royal, but there is no interchange, that's daft.
And why terminate HS2 at Euston and overcrowd the tube there, when HS2 could be carried on to Stratford and terminated there, so distributing the weight of passenger disembarkation across London, and also providing a cheap connection to HS1.
Martyn, Derby
If the goverment really cared about it they would have a reality check and stop adding 'standing capacity' to the overall capacity of a train during peak time. Thus providing an accurate picture and data of loadings.
Dave, Durham
Its not more trains the network needs, its bigger trains
If tpe had 4 car 185's the old 4tph timetable would be providing almost 200 seats more than the current 3car 5tph timetable which the network is struggling to accommodate. Yet why cant they have these extra carriages?
Ask the very same government that question. The one that keeps saying "train procurement is down to the operator" who rejected those orders. The same department now saying overcrowding is a problem on that route then try explaining why an unbuilt railway in oxford needs trains more than TPE do.
Try explaining that to my commuters. The 185's could easily accomodate 2 trailer cars. No breach of eu emission rules and a massive boost to capacity for reatively little cost. Most TPE staff would agree, but this is common sense thinking the railway desparately needs.
Lutz, London
The figures have not changed significantly over the last few years so the operators are keeping pace with growth.
By the same measure they are not making progress on closing the gap, but this may change in the next five year period with the roll-out of large numbers of new vehicles and the following cascades.
andrew blurton, Stafford
Would it be a good idea if all the train operators in the UK designed their own fleet of trains from 6 car carriage formation to 8 car carriage formation & more where they are relying on this 4 car formation technique too much & would these new formations techniques also give the travelling public more safety & more security & comfort & being better secured with all area's & not standing all the time & would these longer trains also help expand more localised service's & also bring more benefits for all mainline operators & the commuter network operation as well with more security guards working on overcrowding services with an extra driver & if the train was very long in length & also 16 vehicles with end gangways provided through them in between the train as well!
John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire
Claire Perry wants operators to provide more seats indeed! What are needed therefore are more trains - that's where the extra seats will come from. Yet the new trains programme is constantly bedevilled by sloth in placing of orders.
Of course I suppose the extra seats could always come from putting passengers on the roof? Bridges? Never mind! Mind over Matter!
Seriously, if the Government really wants more seats then the Government must assist the operators to provide them. Or are Miss Perry word's mere persiflage? I suspect the latter.
Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England
Quite an interesting read, but the most interesting finding is the Euston crowding. Euston is an unusual one where the afternoon peak is worse than the morning peak due to long-distance and regional service peaks coinciding (cue cherry-picking from HS2 antis claiming that Euston is the least crowded station).
This year, morning peak crowding has rocketed, even with the roll-out of Extendolinos - the lack for crowding on Virgin is more than outweighed by an increasingly horrendous situation on London Midland. (
Looks like a Watford-Crossrail link might be necessary simply to meet London Midland passenger demand, never mind temporarily relief during HS2 construction.