Crammed in like cattle! Trains carrying twice the passengers they should

RAIL passengers are being crammed into trains ‘like cattle’ and some carriages are carrying two-and-half times the number of people they were designed for.

As commuters endure sweltering temperatures, a report by the Department for Transport reveals the chronic levels of overcrowding in the morning and evening rush hours, with more people standing up than sitting down.

Britain’s worst service is Southern’s 5.40am Uckfield to London Bridge train. On a typical day in spring, 267 passengers crammed on to two standard class carriages which are meant to hold only 107 passengers. This gave it the highest ‘load factor’ in England and Wales of 250 per cent.

The latest evidence of the misery faced by passengers was slipped out by the DfT on the final day before MPs break up for summer. Overcrowding is exacerbated by train companies which often fail to put on enough carriages during busy periods. All major cities outside London have seen a rise in overcrowding in the morning peak.

But 17 of 20 of the most packed services in England and Wales in spring and autumn last year were travelling into the capital.

On average 23 per cent of people going into London in the morning peak are forced to stand – rising to 36 per cent going into London Blackfriars station.

Alex Hayman of Which? said: ‘Hundreds of passengers have told us about their nightmare experiences with dangerous overcrowding and these latest figures are just the tip of the iceberg.

‘ Overcrowding is made worse when there are excessive delays and cancellations or if train companies

‘Plan for the long term’

are not putting on enough carriages during the busiest periods.’

It’s unacceptable that after fighting to get on a train, passengers are then having to stand in cattle-like conditions.’

Jasmine Whitbread, of business lobby group London First, said: ‘Commuters face delays, station closures, steaming carriages and, if they’re lucky enough to get on to a train, being crammed in like sardines. If the Government wants to end Crush Hour, it needs to plan for the long term and commit to Crossrail 2.’

A Govia Thameslink Railway spokesman, which operated ten of the 20 most overcrowded services, said: ‘Passengers rightly expect to travel to work in comfort and we are sorry this was not the case on the services highlighted in this survey.

‘At the time of these surveys, in 2017, the Southern train service was being affected by industrial action leading to busy trains impacting Thameslink and Gatwick Express.’

The DfT measures crowding at the busiest point of a journey, so the 5.40am Uckfield to London Bridge service is measured at 7am when the train arrives at London Bridge.

A DFT spokesman said: ‘We are providing more trains, more seats, longer platforms and new services to cut overcrowding and speed up journeys.’