Yesterday I had the "pleasure" of travelling by train from Burton to Barnsley. And while there were no problems with cancelled trains or massive delays, I was shocked by one thing - overcrowding. I stood up all the way to Meadowhall before I got a seat. Why are trains these days so overcrowded? The answer is simple, rolling stock. When I was a student and travelled regularly up to Newcastle (mid 70s), the long distance cross-country trains such as Newcastle to Bournmouth etc were made up of a locomotive and 8 or more carriages and I never had to stand and almost always got a window seat, so I was gobsmacked to find that the train I got from Burton to Sheffield (which went on to Edinburgh) was only 3 coaches. The platform was rammed and so was the train. So what's changed? Obviously technology has advanced so that we no longer have locomotives but train units consisting of motor coaches with driving cabs which tend to be much smaller. However, these can be joined together (as they tend to be on London services) to make longer trains so that can't be the reason. The answer must be either rolling stock shortages or penny pinching by the train operators to save a bit of fuel. Either way this is a direct result of privatisation. Come back British Rail.
To be fair if you was on the way home it was probably busier as 15k had just attended a football game and quite a few were wanting to use the train going toward Sheffield. Maybe they could have put a extra carriage on to compensate. The main problem with trains when I used northen regularly was cancelled trains alot of this probably down to striking staff. I'm too young to remember network rail but I know if Labour get in there on about nationalising the rail network again. Have to wait and see if the service is improved.
The real,issue is that the train operating companies lease their rolling stock from the Train leasing companies. Thus if they need extra capacity it costs the train operating companies more. Thus they run a normal train even if an abnormal numbers of customers (they stopped using the term “passenger” years ago) is expected. That said, since COVID, the train operating companies run their services on behalf of the Department for Transport (Daft as Private Eye refers to it). Daft takes all the revenue from fares and pays the train operating companies a fee (plus a profit mark up) to run the services. Thus is theory it would cost the train operating company nothing to add rolling stock (if they could get hold of any) as the government ( I.e. you and I) would refund the cost. I suspect that there is very little slack in the system and securing a longer train for anticipated extra demand would be very difficult. The railway is a very different animal to that which you and I used in the 1970s. thank goodness it was privatised, otherwise where would we be now? Please do not get me going about Water Privatisation.
Back in the 70s, I regularly travelled on matchdays when Newcastle's famous hoards of travelling fans would be off to away gams and trains weren't overcrowded. The difference is probably down to the fact that British Rail planned for events such as football matches and laid on extra rolling stock. @Didcot Red hit the nail on the head; it would cost the train operators extra to lease more rolling stock which would hit their profits - so they don't bother and just allow their "customers" to be treated like cattle. I couldn't fail to notice as my train approached Burton that there were hundreds of coaches at Nemesis Rail (a company which maintains and hires rolling stock to train operators), so a shortage of rolling stock is unlikely...
It’s a disgrace. Before Christmas I was on a train to York. Possibly the most stressful travelling experience I’ve had in recent years. So overcrowded that I was sharing breathing space with a man who had a small child balanced on his feet because there was no floor space. When i e mailed Northern Rail about it they were unapologetic - basically saying all rolling stock is out. The train was dangerously overloaded. Strangely, whenever I take a train from Waterloo to Guildford there are 10 carriages minimum, and you can pick your seat. Modern train, gliding on the rails, unlike the antiquated dirty things that run up here.
It's called levelling up. With 5 more years of the Tories (or a new Tory PM every year for 5 years) your train will be down to 3 coaches like Northern Rail.
