Rail commuters hoping for spacious New Year

24/10/2007

Rail commuters up and down the country are no closer to finding out whether New Year’s Eve 2007 will signal an end to the misery of overcrowding at peak times.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced in July that capacity across the country would expand with 1,300 additional coaches, as part of a £10 billion strategy to expand the rail network by 20 per cent over the next seven
years.

The Government has indicated that a decision will be made in the New Year about where the extra carriages will be allocated. Rail minister Tom Harris told the Commons: "Earlier this year, the Department supported capacity improvements which have maintained longer trains on the line. A business plan at the end of October will best tell us where capacity will be provided, and a final decision as far as allocation of all of the carriages will be made in the New Year."

Local MPs are hitting back at the Transport Department, saying they can’t wait until the close of New Year’s Eve to find out whether improvements will be made in their areas.

Yesterday Shipley MP Philip Davies demanded transport ministers set out a timetable and asked whether any of the additional carriages would be put on the Airedale and Wharfedale line. Davies said: "Capacity is a problem now. Carriages many years in the future is not good enough.”