London-bound train overcrowding: 100,000 have to stand

The 10 worst-crowded services last autumn travelled between 49% and 65% over capacity

More than 100,000 rail commuters into London have to stand in the busiest times of the morning rush hour on a typical day, new figures have shown.

The government figures showed a fifth of rush hour passengers stand and some trains run at 60% over capacity.

On a typical weekday in autumn last year, 535,000 passengers arrived in central London by train in the morning peak time of 07:00 to 09:59.

The Department of Transport (DfT) said overcrowding in 2012 was down on 2011.

On average, a total of 977,000 people travel into London by trains each day.

The rail company with the highest level of passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) of any London and south-east England operator was First Great Western, which was 7.1% over capacity. This was lower than in 2011.

The worst service for overcrowding was the 08:27 Heathrow Connect service from Heathrow to Paddington Station which typically travelled with 786 standard-class passengers - 65% over the capacity figure of 476.

The 10 worst-crowded services in autumn 2012 travelled between 49% and 65% over capacity.

'Unacceptable combination'

Outside London, the highest PiXC levels were at Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, which all had just over 2% PiXC in the morning peak and between 1% and 2% in the afternoon peak.

Richard Hebditch, campaigns director for the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "These statistics show rail is vital to the economy, getting millions of people to work every day.

"But it also shows many commuters are faced with an unacceptable combination of overcrowded trains and spiralling ticket prices.

"Government needs to give rail passengers a fair deal by ending above-inflation ticket price hikes and making sure franchise holders tackle overcrowding."

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "Year on year, the official measure of overcrowding during peak times has fallen slightly overall.

"We recognise that some services remain crowded and passengers get frustrated when they can't get a seat, which is why the rail industry is planning to increase peak time seats into and out of major cities by almost a third by 2019."

Transport Minister Norman Baker said: "Climbing on to a very crowded train is an unpleasant experience and I sympathise with passengers using these services.

"I urge train operators to do what they can on these particular trains. The department is working closely with the industry to ensure this issue is tackled."

RMT rail union leader Bob Crow said nothing would change unless the railways were renationalised.

"While passengers are forced to pay through the nose to stand, crammed in on sweltering, overcrowded trains, the private companies running these services are making huge profits in the safe knowledge that the whole racket of rail privatisation is a one-way ticket to the bank," Mr Crow said.