Commuters face overcrowding

Summary

• despite a £9bn Investment programme, designed to double the number of places on trains, launched in 2006, failure to deliver extra seats means overcrowding
• by 2014, 15% shortfall in additional places on London peak sercices means more people have to stand. worse than any other city, where 1/3 fewer places than needed
• taxpayers would have to step in to meet shorfall because train operaters are not obliged to
• commuters were forced to pay for new services that did not even stop at their stations
• a trip from Surbiton to Waterloo used to take 17 minutes before WWII now journey is 2 minutes longer!

Article & Facts

It has emerged that 11 rail companies are failing to provide the number of seats set out in the contracts they signed with the Government and are operating what is known in the industry as "short-form" trains.

According to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act, more than 1,000 trains a week are shorter than they should be.

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A Department for Transport study has revealed some of the most congested trains in England are running at almost double capacity.

The government has called on train operators to do more to address overcrowding on rush-hour services.

In Autumn 2011, First Great Western's 07:44 Henley-on-Thames to London Paddington service had a 180% load factor in standard class carriages.

Watchdog Passenger Focus has called for greater investment in rolling stock.

Michael Roberts, chief executive of The Association of Operating Companies (ATOC), said overcrowding was the "flip side" to faster trains and better services.

In a statement he said train companies understood passengers' frustration and were "taking action where they can".

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THE TOP 10 MOST OVERCROWDED TRAINS IN ENGLAND AND WALES

1) 07:44 First Great Western Henley-on-Thames to London Paddington - load factor 180%

2) 07:32 South West Trains Woking to London Waterloo - load factor 164%

3) 18:13 London Midland London Euston to Birmingham New Street - load factor 162%

4) 16:48 London Midland London Euston to Birmingham New Street - load factor 160%

5) 06:30 First Great Western Banbury to London Paddington - load factor 158%

6) 07:55 London Midland Stourbridge Junction to Stratford-upon-Avon - load factor 157%

7) 06:23 First TransPennine Express Manchester Airport to Middlesbrough - load factor 155%

8) 18:17 National Express East Anglia London Liverpool Street to Shenfield - load factor 154%

9) 07:14 South West Trains Alton to London Waterloo - load factor 152%

10) 17:46 London Midland London Euston to Birmingham New Street - load factor 152%

Source: Department for Transport, autumn 2011

He said the government needed to give operators "more flexibility to respond to passenger demand".

'Long term investment'

Watchdog spokesman Mike Hewitson said: "Passengers tell us that getting a seat is a daily struggle.

"We need substantial long-term investment to provide longer and more frequent trains to help reduce crowding.

"The industry needs to increase capacity by offering more trains and more carriages - not by increasing fares to price off demand."

From 2 January, season ticket holders in Henley-on-Thames will also see their annual fare to London rise by 4.18% to £3,388.

First Great Western has recently added an extra carriage to the 07:44 service, increasing the number of standard class seats to 340.

Dan Panes, from the operator, said: "Over the last three years we have managed to deliver 90 more carriages across our network, pulling in an additional 10% capacity.

"This strategy has made a huge difference and it's important to remember these figures were collected more than a year ago.

"We're confident next year's data will show the difference our approach is making."

London Midland, which features in the top 10 list four times, has placed an order for 10 new four-car trains which will allow for additional services to operate on the route from 2014.

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BBC News

Rail fares will rise by 6.2% in January

The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation in July - which stood at 3.2% - is used to calculate the rises.Some rail fares in England will rise by 6.2% in January - about double the rate of inflation - although other price rises may be higher.

Some English fares will rise by RPI plus 3%, while in Scotland they will go up by RPI plus 1%. Wales has yet to set a figure for its increase.

The extra money is helping to fund huge investment across the network.

There are no fare increases currently planned in Northern Ireland, where fares are not linked to RPI, after a 3% rise in April.

Chance of higher rises

The decision to have different formulas for fare rises is a political one. In Scotland, 75% of the cost of the railways comes from a government subsidy - higher than in England.

The figures for planned rises in England and Scotland are an average across regulated tickets, which make up half of all fares. These regulated fares include season tickets and off-peak intercity journeys. In Scotland, this does not include the busy shuttle service between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

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Some passengers could see their journey prices rising by more than the average, as train companies are allowed to increase them by up to five percentage points more, as long as they cut ticket prices elsewhere.

Passengers will not be told yet how prices will change on their specific route. The latest figure sets the template for this rise.

Those who travel across a border, such as from Scotland to England, will be subject to the higher English fare rises.

Mike Hewitson, of watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "This is another inflation-busting increase.

"There is only so much you can squeeze passengers. The government needs to think again about the plus 3% [formula]."

BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott says passengers and taxpayers used to split the cost of running the railways, with both sides paying about half each, but successive ministers have cut the amount of government funding and that has resulted in regular fare rises.

The latest rise means fares in England will have gone up by more than inflation for 10 successive years, resulting in some of the most expensive train journeys in Europe although some tickets booked well in advance can be cheap, our correspondent adds.

'You have to stand'

Passengers have reacted with disappointment.

ONE PASSENGER'S STORY

Craig Anderson-Jones, from Salisbury, says: "I earn an average wage. Not great, but not minimal, yet I pay 8.5% of my pre-tax wage on train travel alone. That is £1,784 a year.

"Put on top of that the cost of childcare - nearly £600 per month - and my bills are nearly £1,600 per month. To some, not much - to me, a lot. I can't even afford to get on the property ladder, so I have to rent.

"I don't actually think I could afford to get to work if this keeps going on

"Ultimately I will be forced to move to a closer location. The cost of driving to work and parking all day makes it even more expensive to get to work.

"Personally, I think people who do travel distances to work should be able to claim it back or get tax breaks if they can prove the expenditure."

One disgruntled passenger told the BBC: "I don't think it's good value for money at all. Every train I get in the morning, you either have to stand up or you can't get in."

Stephen Joseph, from passengers' group the Campaign for Better Transport, said rail fares could rise three times faster than salaries if the government sticks to its policy.

"With the economy flatlining, this is untenable. The government knows they can't continue to hit commuters - that's why they've postponed the fuel duty increase," he said, as activists from the group protested against the anticipated increases at London's Waterloo station.

"Now they need to give the same help to rail users."

The group said commuters across the country routinely spend between 5% and 10% of their salary getting to work. In some towns in south-east England, it said they spent up to 15%.

'Necessary rise'

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Commuters could see the price of their season ticket going up three times faster than their pay rise.

But Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "It has been government policy during the past eight years for passengers to pay a larger share of the cost of operating the railways and to focus taxpayers' money on investing in longer-term improvements to the network.

"In return for these whopping fare increases, rail travellers can expect cutbacks to services and more unmanned stations, creating safety risks for those travelling at unsociable hours."

"Any flexibility train companies have within the rules is to maximise revenue for the government."

Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said that the fare increases were necessary in the short-term to achieve the government's long-term goal of bringing down the cost of running railways.

"In the longer term we are determined to get rid of these above-inflation fare rises all together," she said.

"But in the meantime I'm afraid these fare rises are going to be necessary in order to help us deliver a rail investment programme at a time when the deficit means public spending needs to be constrained," she added.

Shadow Treasury minister Rachel Reeves said: "These fare rises are unacceptable at a time when families are already struggling to make ends meet and wages are stagnant at best."

The official inflation figures from the Official for National Statistics show that the Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation rose from 2.4% in June to 2.6% in July. The rise in the rate of CPI follows three months of falls. RPI rose to 3.2% from 2.8% in June.