MP Pritchard calls for legal limits on train passenger numbers
Tuesday 27th July 2010, 10:00AM BST.
A Shropshire MP who labelled a county train service the “sardine express” due to severe overcrowding has called on government ministers to impose a legal limit on the number of passengers who can travel in any one carriage.
Tory Mark Pritchard has been a long-time critic of services run by both Arriva Trains and London Midland through the county and Mid Wales.
He says limiting the number of passengers who can get on the train would solve the problem and has raised the issue in the Commons – but transport minister Theresa Villiers poured cold water on the idea and said it was unworkable.
She said: “I currently have no plans to assess the merits of putting a legal limit on the number of passengers who can travel in a rail carriage.
“There is no evidence that a limit is required for safety reasons.
“A legal limit would be difficult to enforce and might require all rail passengers to book in advance or risk not being allowed to travel.
“This would be very unpopular with many rail users and probably unworkable on commuter sections of the railway, where most crowding occurs.”
Another idea advocated by Mr Pritchard to deal with overcrowding problems in Shropshire and beyond was to add more carriages.
Mrs Villiers said a decision on that would be deferred until after the spending review due to be released in the autumn.
“The forthcoming consultation on rail franchising will also consider ideas for addressing passenger concerns regarding crowding levels,” she added.
Mr Pritchard called for action after being contacted by Wellington woman Louise Jenner last year, who fainted while on the Arriva train from Telford to Wolverhampton after claiming she had been packed like a sardine in the walkway of one of the carriages.
The MP said carriages were so congested on trains run by Arriva Trains Wales and London Midland that people would be injured or even killed in the event of a collision or having to stop suddenly.
In March this year, Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski wrote to then Transport Secretary Lord Adonis also calling for action.
By Wayne Beese
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The effects of privatisation have never been clearer, it is obvious that companies will always put profits before the comfort of passengers.
Let us not forget it was the Tory party of both Ms Villiers and Mr Pritchard who privatised the railways in the first place.
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It should be remembered that there was n such thing as an overcrowded train prior to privatisation. If it has done anything, it has made rail more attractive to the travelling public, with double the number of people using the railways in comparison to the early 90s.
If all those people were driving, the roads would be in complete gridlock and you wouldn’t be able to breathe for exhaust fumes.
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Really David? That’s not what commuters in the South East might say.
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Good to know that Mr Pritchard is concerned about “Sardines”. Unfortunately it is highly unlikely that Arriva will provide any more “tins” for the Sardines that are bound to be left on the platform(s)! How will their need to get to work etc? be met
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Am I missing something? How about pressuring the train companies to put on more carriages for busy services? Just a free suggestion Mr Pritchard MP.
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Rather than restrict the number of passengers wouldn’t it make more sense to increase the number of carriages?
Of course this would require a complete restructuring of the current management of the railways – get shot of the ludicrous rolling stock leasing companies which are a license to print money, and abolish the so-called ‘not for profit company’ Network Rail. There might not be much profit for anyone else but Chief Executive Ian Coucher was paid £1,447,000 last year, which no doubt helped pay for his 500 acre Highland estate, Lamborghini and Aston Martin…..
Instead we’ve got the economics of the mad house, with proposals such as Mark Pritchard’s, and rail operators being allowed to increase fares as a deterrent to passengers.
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Rob – I think that’s Pritchard’s point: that if you legally limit the number of passengers, you basically force the train company to increase the number of carriages, assuming they want to get as many ticket-buying travellers on their service as they can. Of course he wants to see more carriages – the point is the government can’t ‘make’ them add more, they’re a private company that can do what they like.
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For 2 years I was using the Shrews line to Birmingham daily,which was actually 13 years ago. Guess what, the sardine express was allowed to run then to. Totally ignoring safety of it’s passengers and revelling in the fact that Arrivia was taking are hard earnt money for nothing, as many a time I did not get a seat; it’s inexcusable. What will it take for Theresa Villiers to see a law has to be passed and it has to be made “workable.” No doubt when there is a bad crash with a huge loss of life, the Govt might just sit up and take notice. Not only that, along with today’s climate of terrorism, trains running frequently so overcrowded are sitting ducks for a terrorism act to be committed.
WAKE UP GOVERMENT, YOU ARE ACCOUNTABLE.
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The situation is worse on Sundays (especially when there are events at the NEC and/or in Birmingham) because London Midland run NO services whatsoever between Shrewsbury and Birmingham on Sundays, leaving it all up to Arriva Trans Wales.
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Mark Pritchard seems ignorant of the fact that his fellow Tory Secretary of State for Transport has ordered a “review” of a £1bn programme to buy 1,300 new train carriages. Is anyone taking bets as to what this really means?
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And of course David Wright, Labour MP for Telford has done so much for the commuters who use the two stations in his constituency, hasn’t he?
Oh. You mean he has done and said nothing about it since he was first elected? How strange!
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Sorry to burst everyones bubble but here are afew realities of the privatised railway:
1) Operators run a contracted service “the franchise” on behalf of government (Eg. Arriva (now owned by Deutsche Bahn) run the Wales franchise and Go Ahead Group run the West Midlands franchise which trades as London Midland).
2) The services and number of carriages to be run are specified in the contract by the government.
3) The fee the operator gets paid is based on this specified level of service.
4) If more carriages or extra services are needed then more fee is needed.
5) Rolling stock companies are just lease holders. They buy the train and rent it out at market rates. They take the risk on the train being used for 30 to 40 years not the government. Train operators only run a service for 7 years so would not be as cheap if they bought their own trains.
6) If the government let a longer franchise contract, there COULD be more carriage as there would be more time for the operator to reclaim any extra money spent – a good example of this is Chiltern Railwyas which has improved the tracks, added services, longer and more frequent trains and reopened stations.
7) There are no spare trains available to make longer ones in the short term. To buy more new trains typically take 2 years.
At the end of the day, the entire raiwlay is state supported so everything comes down to money. As a country we are skint so everything has to be cut back and we will have to get used to overcrowded trains, grid locked roads and higher taxes for a few years yet.
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