London rush-hour train crowding worst for over 20 years

[John Ashworth]

London rush-hour train crowding at its worst for over 20 years

Official figures show almost one in four trains arriving in capital in the morning are above capacity, including standing space

Gwyn Topham, transport correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 July 2012 16.55 BST

Crowding on rush hour trains into London is at its worst for more than 20 years, according to official figures published on Thursday.

Almost one in four trains coming in to the capital in the morning contains more passengers than official capacity allows, including standing space.

Official figures, going back to 1990, show the most overcrowding since before railway privatisation, but rail operators defended the figures, saying they were due to "better services attracting record numbers of people to the railways".

Similar figures have also been calculated for the first time for 10 other English cities, which show overcrowding during Manchester's evening rush hour is slightly worse than London mornings. Birmingham, Leeds and Sheffield also experience particularly busy morning peaks.

Figures published by the Department for Transport show the number of passengers standing on services to London between 7am and 10am has risen to more than one in five of the 532,000 passengers. The proportion travelling in trains beyond the full capacity has increased to a record 2.3% between 4pm and 7pm.

The most notoriously busy trains, those operated by First Great Western, appear to have eased congestion, with an average of one passenger in 10 now being crammed on to an already full train – down from one in six in 2010.

Outside London, Birmingham had the highest number of passengers travelling during the busiest periods, with 36,000 arrivals in the morning peak and 40,000 departures in the afternoon peak.

The Association of Train Operating Companies said: "Faster trains and better services are attracting record numbers of people to the railways. But the flip side is overcrowding and we understand passengers' frustration when they can't get a seat."

Rail minister Norman Baker said the government is tackling overcrowding by modernising the railways: "We have given the green light to Crossrail and Thameslink and are proceeding at full steam with HS2 [planned high-speed rail link between London and the Midlands] as well as supporting an important new section of railway in Manchester which will relieve longstanding congestion problems and improve transport links between our key northern cities."