The latest rail overcrowding statistics show that trains into and out of the capital are the most crammed, with some services operating at over twice capacity.
Southern operator GTR took the top four spots in the overcrowding league table.
The Department for Transport’s ‘Top 10’ overcrowded train services: England and Wales, show that eight of the 10 most overcrowded services in both spring and autumn last year were arriving at or departing from London stations.
Southern trains at London Bridge
Last autumn the four most overcrowded trains were services into or through London run by Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern, the exact name of the TSGN franchise operated by GTR.
The most overcrowded service was Southern’s 07:16 from East Grinstead to London Bridge, which had a standard class load factor of 213% as it arrived at the London terminus, meaning that it was 113% over the standard class capacity of the train.
Standard class passenger capacity includes the number of standard class seats on the train and may include a standing allowance, depending on how long people would be standing.
The most overcrowded service in Spring 2016 was another Southern service - the 05:40 Uckfield to London Bridge, which had a standard class load factor of 226% on arrival, meaning that it was 126% over capacity.
Lianna Etkind of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: ‘The latest statistics show that overcrowding continues to make passengers' lives a misery. People are rightly angry that they pay more in fares year after year, but never get a seat, and have to stand crammed into someone else's armpit.
‘With such high levels of overcrowding, the Government cannot expect people to pay for yet another fares hike in January. The Government needs to freeze fares, while continuing to invest in more train carriages and additional services.’
The Rail Delivery Group says the industry is adding ‘thousands of new carriages and 6,400 extra train services a week by 2021’.
At the weekend, transport secretary Chris Grayling suggested in a newspaper interview that first class compartments will disappear from crowded commuter trains to make more space for standard class passengers.
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