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Title: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: Chris from Nailsea on October 07, 2010, 17:58:01 From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11493830):
Quote Overcrowding on a busy commuter train route in and out of London is getting worse, according to new figures. In 2009, 8.2% of rush-hour trains operated by First Great Western (FGW) were officially classed as overcrowded, Office of Rail Regulation data showed. That figure increased from 6.5% of rush-hour trains in 2008. FGW operates around 100 trains to and from London's Paddington station in both the morning and evening rush hours. A spokesman for the rail firm said: "We recognise we need to ease overcrowding on key parts of our network. FGW has increased the number of seats on our trains compared to other operators. We have recently put forward a series of innovative proposals to help increase the number of customers we are able to carry, to the Department of Transport." Three other south-east England train firms had worse figures for 2009 than for 2008. Overcrowding on London Midland rush-hour London services rose from 4.8% to 5.9%; London Overground's figures went up from 0.8% to 1.6%; and the Southern company saw figures increasing from 2.7% to 3.0%. But overcrowding figures for six other London and south-east England train companies were better in 2009 than in 2008. The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) said: "Train companies are in the business of keeping their customers happy and dislike having to put passengers onto trains which are overcrowded. The figures highlight the importance of sustained and targeted investment to ease overcrowding on the railway." Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: JayMac on October 07, 2010, 19:06:33 From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11493830): Quote A spokesman for the rail firm said: "We recognise we need to ease overcrowding on key parts of our network. FGW has increased the number of seats on our trains compared to other operators...." Can anyone explain to me what that means? I know seating capacity has been increased on the HSTs and some of the 'west' fleet but has there been any increase to seating on the turbos, which are the trains this story is referring to surely? Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: johoare on October 07, 2010, 19:50:35 To be honest I don't think it matters if you increase the number of seats if people are packed in like cattle.. Which they are.. I'd like to see some of those in charge trying to travel on the most overcrowded trains..
As an aside I do like FGWs new adverts saying how they'd like us to travel in comfort after a hard day (or something like that) with a picture of some slippers.. They are on a different planet I think ::) ;D Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: Chris from Nailsea on October 07, 2010, 20:02:55 ... I'd like to see some of those in charge trying to travel on the most overcrowded trains ... They are on a different planet I think ::) ;D I rather think they are actually on the same trains - but in First Class ... ::) Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: johoare on October 07, 2010, 20:07:49 ... I'd like to see some of those in charge trying to travel on the most overcrowded trains ... They are on a different planet I think ::) ;D I rather think they are actually on the same trains - but in First Class ... ::) Not on a turbo they won't be.. That will be just as full as standard.. no one checks tickets (as I think has been said on another thread...) They just don't use our trains, or they'd know.. ;D Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: Electric train on October 07, 2010, 20:43:27 I am sure the current Government will be taking steps to reduce overcrowding ...................
Fare hikes of 30% should go a long way to help this Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: Exeter on October 07, 2010, 21:48:41 I can't comment about what goes on from Maidenhead etc but from my experience of commuting to London from Didcot on HSTs is that from Reading onwards coach E (and sometimes D) are jam packed solid with loads standing but in coach A at the back, more often then not, there are quite a few spare seats, albeit most occupied by laptop bags and assorted paraphanalia in an attempt to stop anyone sitting on them!
Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: SDS on October 07, 2010, 22:44:03 Yes, because everyone has to go to coach A don't they.
Coach B - E isn't good enough, it has to be coach A doesn't it. Just get on the bloody train and stop holding it up. Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: anthony215 on October 07, 2010, 22:58:31 I was on the 19:15 London Paddington - Swansea service tonight which was packed with people standing through to Bristol Parkway.
Mind you it was as bad as it was this morning between Didcot & Reading because of the caos with the signals failing and the train i was on the 03:58 Swansea - London Paddington which suffered a spad near Maidenhead after leaving Reading around 45 minutes late Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: paul7575 on October 07, 2010, 23:08:42 Can anyone explain to me what that means? I know seating capacity has been increased on the HSTs and some of the 'west' fleet but has there been any increase to seating on the turbos, which are the trains this story is referring to surely? I don't think it follows that they are referring only to Turbos. Most of their HSTs through Reading are commuter services as well, and yes, they have crammed more seats into them than other HST operators... Paul Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: SDS on October 07, 2010, 23:12:23 FGW also seem to have random coach set ups.
7+2 8+2 and 9+2 wheras GNER/NXEC/EC/DaFT/FEC etc etc etc seem to run solely on 9+2. Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: devon_metro on October 08, 2010, 19:34:40 FGW 2+9 sets are rare, and more often than not the additional TGS is locked OOU.
Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: SDS on October 08, 2010, 22:16:38 The 1903 Pad-pnz ran as a 9+2. two first class coach G's!!
Title: Re: London commuter rail overcrowding 'getting worse' Post by: johoare on October 09, 2010, 00:07:30 Can anyone explain to me what that means? I know seating capacity has been increased on the HSTs and some of the 'west' fleet but has there been any increase to seating on the turbos, which are the trains this story is referring to surely? I don't think it follows that they are referring only to Turbos. Most of their HSTs through Reading are commuter services as well, and yes, they have crammed more seats into them than other HST operators... Paul So how overcrowded are those trains then generally? out of interest? This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |