SLP - Boris stands up for 'sardine' commuters

2 South London Press, Friday, February 13, 2015

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Boris stands up for ‘sardine’ commuters By HAYLEY RICHARDSON

CITY Hall politicians are demanding action to end the misery faced by rail commuters on overcrowded trains in south-west London.

Boris Johnson and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have written to South West Trains expressing concerns about the issue on services into central London and demanding active steps to address the problem within two years. GLA members said they regularly receive correspondence from constituents bemoaning high levels of crowding on services through south-west London, particularly at Wandsworth Town, Putney, Earlsfield, Wimbledon and Clapham Junction stations. Richard Tracey, London Assembly member for Merton and Wandsworth, said: “We hope this co-ordinated effort by the Mayor and London Assembly leaders will produce results for

BIG SQUEEZE: Commuters stand on a packed train at LEWIS WHYLD/PA/k6314/C Wimbledon long-suffering commuters.” South London was highlighted as one of the “pinch points” on London’s rail network in the 2009 Transport committee report, The Big Squeeze: Rail overcrowding in London. Despite the report recommending measures to help address the problem, South London commuters are still

experiencing acute overcrowding. Elise Kik, a City worker from Earlsfield, said she has noticed a significant increase in the number of passengers on the platform. She said: “Boarding in the morning is really, really hard. You have to rugby tackle your way on to a train. “Often when I get off the train at a station so that people leaving the

STANDING ROOM ONLY: A train into Waterloo from south-west London ANDREW GRAY/PA/k6312/C

train have some space, you can’t get back on again because other commuters push their way in. “Last week a teenage boy fainted on the packed train from Earlsfield to Clapham Junction, but no one batted an eyelid when he dropped to the floor. I had to fight my way through the crowd to help him and give him my bottle of water.” Former train driver Graham McDonald said: “Clapham Junction at rush hour is chaos. “There were always one or two passengers trying to get on the train when it was physically impossible to do so. “I used to think about how it must feel if you were unlucky enough to get on the train. Sardines spring to mind.” A spokesman for the South West Trains and Network Rail alliance said: “Since 1996, the number of passengers using our trains has doubled from just over 100 million to around 220 million and we appreciate that means many of our customers are travelling on trains which can be overcrowded at peak times.” They said that more than 100 additional refurbished carriages are coming into service in the immediate future to enable them to run longer trains on some of their busiest routes, but admitted that more needs to be done. The spokesman added: “We have been working with the Government, which decides on new train investments, to develop plans to cope with future growth. “In 2017, a £200million fleet of brand new trains will start to be introduced on the network, boosting peak time capacity by 30 per cent. “We are also planning major improvement works at London Waterloo – already the UK’s busiest station – to boost capacity across the network. This includes reopening the former International Terminal, as well as lengthening platforms to allow 10car trains to run on the suburban routes for the first time.”

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