Hopes extra cash may ease ‘sardine’ train
Wednesday 31st March 2010, 10:40AM BST.
Shropshirestar.com reader YT Cheung took this picture aboard the 7.51am service from Telford on February 23.
More money could become available to ease the overcrowding on Shropshire’s “Sardine Express” rail service – seen during the morning Shrewsbury to Birmingham railway service.
Both Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard and Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski have raised concerns over the packed train carriages.
Now Ben Mole, under secretary of state for transport, says that the Government is working with the Welsh Assembly on a funding package which could help provide more space for commuters.
In a letter to Mr Kawczynski, who has called for a debate in the House of Commons about the issue, Mr Mole says the matter is being looked into.
He says: “I should like to confirm that the Department for Transport is in discussion with Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) about the possibility of a case being made for the funding of additional capacity.
“Given that the ATW franchise is managed on a day-to-day basis by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), we are working closely with WAG in this matter. Should a case be made for additional rolling stock to increase capacity, this would be on the basis that passenger demand justified it, not because of capacity issues caused by train cancellations or late running.
“We do, of course, continue to look to the train operators to ensure that they operate their services efficiently.”
Mr Mole also said there was no legal obligation on Arriva to limit passenger numbers in its carriages.
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What has the Shrewsbury to Birmingham train got to do with the Welsh Assembly???
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If I remember correctly the service runs from the cambrian coast and is run by an Arriva Trains Wales. This places the service partially under the authority of the welsh assembly.
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its a joke if more carriagies were put on then the ticket inspector could check the tickets, this would force people to pay for the train service. more revenue from the same amout of passengers would mean more money to pay for additional carriages
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Do not trust trains you phone the office for a ticket and they always tell you the dearest price ie i was qouted return to london £123.00, phoned back and qouted half. All a big ripp off and the trains never mind being full are dirty and smelly.
As it is run by arriva in some cases i dont know if the drivers on the trains are as fat as the arriva bus drivers but are they not going on a few days skive soon???
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