Southern service is UK’S most crowded train
Britain’s most overcrowded train regularly carries more than twice as many people as it is designed to hold, official figures have revealed. Every weekday morning, the 7.16am Southern Rail service from East Grinstead to London Bridge carries 1,366 people in 12 carriages designed to hold just 640.
BRITAIN’S most overcrowded train regularly carries more than twice as many passengers as it is designed to hold, official figures have revealed.
Every weekday, the 7.16am Southern Rail service from East Grinstead to London Bridge carries 1,366 people in 12 carriages designed to hold 640 passengers, figures from the Department for Transport reveal.
Of the 10 most overcrowded trains that ran last year, half were operated by Southern. Six other most overcrowded services were provided by Thameslink or Great Northern trains and two were London Midland evening departures from Euston to Crewe.
All companies are part of the same Govia franchise.
Last year’s busiest train was only marginally less crowded than the busi- est on record. That was the 6.57am Govia Thameslink service from Brighton to Bedford in autumn 2015, which carried a total of 960 passengers in eight cars designed to hold 420.
The news comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed that the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, is planning to scrap first-class carriages on busy commuter trains to ease overcrowding.
Trains with separate compartments have already been reduced on some shorter routes with more to follow over the coming year.
Over the past 20 years there has been almost unbroken growth in passenger journeys across Britain, with the exception of a dip during the postrecession period in 2009-10.
However, there was no overall significant rise in overcrowding on trains this year, despite a total of 14million extra journeys being taken, up by 0.8 per cent on 2015-16.
The Dft’s report said morning peak crowding was highest in London, followed by Manchester and Leeds, with crowding on train services generally worse during the morning peak than the afternoon peak.
The Government has promised extra services on routes south of London next year, following completion of the Thameslink Programme.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of the passenger watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Continuing to invest in new trains, better frequency, track capacity and improved signalling will ultimately give passengers a better chance of getting a seat or at least stand in comfort.
“In return for continuing fare rises passengers expect continued investment and improvement.”
Blackfriars had the highest crowding level of all central London stations, the report found, while Fenchurch Street had the highest percentage of standing passengers.
Almost 150,000 passengers were standing at trains’ busiest points on arrival into central London in the threehour morning peak. Nearly two thirds of all services in the morning peak had standing passengers.