One rush-hour train through London carries more than twice as many passengers as seats available, new government figures reveal.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has published a list of the 10 busiest trains in England and Wales in autumn 2023. All but one are London commuter services, the exception serving Cardiff Central. Topping the list was the 7.33am from Bedford via Luton airport, London and Gatwick airport to Three Bridges in Sussex.
Approaching London St Pancras International, the train had more passengers standing than seated, with a “maximum load factor” of 204 per cent. The Independent calculates that 537 passengers were obliged to stand.
A Thameslink spokesperson said: “This survey measures crowding by counting the number of people standing compared to the number of seats available.
“But these Thameslink trains can’t be compared with other UK trains because they were built as people-movers with fewer seats and lots of standing space. This allows more passengers to board services and travel in comfort on this busy commuter route.
“We constantly monitor how busy our services are and proactively take action to increase capacity on our routes. Since this survey was carried out a year ago, we gave passengers more space by lengthening the 7.33am from eight to 12 carriages and added another train at 7.15am to create even more capacity. This December we’ll also be lengthening the 7.03am service by 50 per cent.”
Second on the list: Chiltern Railways’ 7.46am departure from Prince’s Risborough in Buckinghamshire, which on the final leg of the journey had almost two-thirds more passengers (65 per cent) than seats available.
The train operator says it has introduced additional peak services in Buckinghamshire to help reduce crowding on midweek services and is seeking DfT approval “to bring additional carriages into service over the next 12 months”.
Wales takes third place with an afternoon train that begins at Gloucester in England but which is at its busiest between Cardiff and Bridgend. The Transport for Wales (TfW) 2.57pm from Gloucester to Maesteg has 62 per cent more passengers than seats after it leaves the Welsh capital. TfW says it is making timetable changes in December that it is “confident will spread out demand across several services”.
Early boarders of the 6.10am…
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