[from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 25th July 2013]
Thousands of rail passengers are being forced to travel on overcrowded trains.
And a Huddersfield rail expert believes things are getting worse.
Peter Marshall warned:
“You get on a train in Huddersfield to go to either Leeds or Manchester and you will be very lucky to get a seat.”
Mr Marshall, of the Huddersfield Penistone Sheffield Rail Users’ Association, was speaking as a new report revealed the scale of the problem on the nation’s railways.
On some routes, more than a fifth of passengers have to stand.
Passengers on some morning and evening peak services in London are travelling on trains which are 60% over capacity on certain routes, the Department for Transport (DfT) figures showed.
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.”
One of the worst lines away from London is the transPennine line.
The highest PiXC – Passengers in excess of capacity – levels outside London in the 2012 statistics 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.
The 6.23am Manchester Airport-Middlesbrough service which runs through Huddersfield showed 269 passengers on carriages meant for 166 – some 62% overcrowded.
Mr Marshall said:
“It is a fair reflection of the problems.
“Passenger numbers are going up all the time despite the recession yet we have no investment in rolling stock.
“I know the train companies have asked for new carriages but there is no help from the Government, who would be expected to subsidise the services.
“It makes for very uncomfortable journeys, both for commuters on the lines from Huddersfield to either Leeds or Manchester or Sheffield and at other times.
“You can very rarely get a seat when you board at Huddersfield for those services and at Platform 16 at Leeds, boarding a train to Huddersfield is a right melee.
“It’s a case of the sharpest elbow wins”.
Chris Nutton, programme director of First TransPennine, said:
“We are aware of the Department for Transport publication regarding crowded services and in particular the First TransPennine Express service between Manchester Airport and Middlesbrough.
“Travelling by train is more popular than ever before and offers a real alternative to commuting by road.
“However we do recognise that some of our services are extremely crowded and as such we have invested £60m in a fleet of new trains that will provide an additional 30 per cent capacity across our network.
“These new trains are on target to begin to be delivered by the end of this year.
“We are also introducing a new timetable in May 2014 that will see us increase train services between Manchester and Leeds from four to five services an hour”.