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The 10 most overcrowded trains in England and Wales

A list of the busiest trains in England and Wales in 2014 has been released by the Department for Transport, showing that one service had 355 people aboard, despite a capacity of only 191.

The busiest train, which was 185.9 per cent filled, was the TransPennine Service 04:22 from Glasgow Central to Manchester Airport, which was a commuter train arriving at 08:47.

The reliability of the figures is not 100 per cent, as standard class passengers counted on a single day is not necessarily representative and human error in counting is possible, particularly on crowded trains.

The busiest city in England and Wales was found to be London, with around 563,000 passengers arriving at stations in central London, around 24.7 per cent of which were standing.

Rail minister Claire Perry said in a statement:

We have seen record-breaking numbers use the railways in the past year, with 1.7 billion journeys completed in 2014, more than double the number recorded a decade ago.

To meet this unprecedented demand we are investing £38 billion in the railways for the 5 years until 2019, underpinned by flagship schemes like the Intercity Express and Thameslink programmes to provide more space and more seats on trains.

I know how frustrated customers are with overcrowding, and I expect the rail industry, including operators, to continue to develop innovative proposals to meet the capacity challenge head on.

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