Cable Challenges Ministers over Rail Services

10.43.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 27th Nov 2006

Vincent Cable MP has secured a full debate in Parliament on rail franchises on Wednesday and will raise the concern of local commuters that rail services will become even more overcrowded.

"When the Government announced the new SW Trains franchise a few weeks ago, it claimed that there would be reduced overcrowding with 20% more peak hour seats on suburban and mainline services. The Minister repeated the same assertion in Parliament to me last week in Transport questions. The problem is that the claim is completely wrong. SW Trains intend to remove seats in order to accommodate 20% more passengers so that there is less crowding around the doors. The model it is following is the tube where suburban passengers expect to stand, not sit. I want to get to the bottom of why it is that official press releases and ministers' statements in Parliament say one thing and the company, which won the franchise, is saying the opposite. What I suspect is happening is that the Government gave the franchise to Stagecoach on the basis that it would cut costs - and government subsidy - while wrongly claiming that overcrowding would diminish."