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Rail Ticketing and Overcrowding

I was recently told a story about Lenin and rail travel. In April 1917, ahead of the October revolution, Lenin arrived by train back in Russia at the Finland station in Petrograd. As he stepped off the train, he was asked by some of his waiting supporters, ““Comrade Lenin, why did you travel sitting in the First Class carriage?”” Lenin replied: ““Comrades, after the revolution we will all be travelling sitting in first-class carriages.”” The story sounds apocryphal, and my revolutionary zeal is more muted than Comrade Lenin's. All I want is for my commuting constituents who travel in standard class to be able to sit, and not stand, in standard class. Rail overcrowding at peak times and high rail ticket prices affect many of my constituents. I get the message from my constituents in my postbag, and I get the message in person as I commute daily from Reading to London. There are broadly three ways to tackle overcrowding and the high rail fares: first, more investment in new rolling stock; secondly, encouraging train operating companies, through the terms of their franchises, to make more effective use of existing capacity and to think more imaginatively about their product offering; and thirdly a reduction in the rail industry's overall costs, which will limit future increases in rail fares. Let us take each of those in turn. I know that the Government recognise very clearly the difficulties faced by rail commuters, which is why they are investing in new rolling stock. I welcome the huge investment in the sector across the country—the largest level of investment in rail, I understand, since the Victorian era. As an example, last November, the Minister announced funding for an additional 48 carriages on First Great Western services running through Reading and the Thames valley, and into London Paddington. By August, Reading will have seen 1,500 extra standard-class seats available during the morning peak and around 1,700 extra standard-class seats during the evening peak hours, which will be good news for many of my commuting constituents—and, I have to say, for me too. The Chancellor's decision in the autumn statement to cap rail fares at RPI plus 1% was also welcome recognition that rail commuters need help at a time when household budgets are stretched. The median average gross annual salary in Reading is around £28,000. A season ticket from Reading to London, including the London underground, costs just under £5,000 a year. For many, rail fares take up a very large proportion of after-tax income. That is why getting value for money is absolutely key for rail commuters. Season tickets can cost thousands of pounds, so value for money should very much include being able to get a seat on the train. Let me turn to the more effective use of existing capacity. Ahead of this debate, I wrote to the train operating companies that operate both first and standard-class services to ask about their policies to deal with overcrowding. That included a request for any statistics they may have on overcrowding, and in particular any information on the number of occasions in the past 12 months when services were deemed to be overcrowded. I also asked about the train operators' policies on declassifying first-class carriages for use by all passengers when no seating is available in standard class, and for any statistics they may have on the number of times over the past year when a declassification took place. Some of the conclusions from the responses were surprising. In at least one operator's franchise agreement, no definition of ““overcrowding”” is specified, suggesting a lack of consistency across franchises. Most operators were unable to supply any detailed statistics on overcrowded services over the past year. For most operators, individual train managers make the decision to declassify a carriage or a whole train. Again, however, save for one operator, it appears that no data are collected on how many times declassifications have occurred over a 12-month period. From my experience of rail travel over the years, and not just the commute on the Reading-to-London line, I have never once been on a train that has been declassified. Perhaps I have just been spectacularly unlucky. With many franchise agreements coming up for tender this year and next, and with a rail Command Paper and a fares review imminent, I have some suggestions that the Minister may wish to consider. First, let us aim for longer franchises, which will help operators to fulfil the requirement for more investment in new rolling stock. There also needs to be less prescription on the minutiae of franchises and more focus on measures that matter to passengers. Industry sources have told me that in some cases the format of draft agendas for meetings between train operating companies and the rail regulator have been dictated in franchise agreements. I am not sure how that benefits passengers. There should be more of an obligation to measure overcrowding regularly, against set objective parameters, and to publish these measurements, perhaps on a monthly or quarterly basis. I understand that an annual assessment is made of overcrowding at peak times on the Reading-to-Paddington line. However, that is not necessarily sufficient, given that only passengers on the morning commute, from 7 am to 10 am, are counted. In Reading, some of the most overcrowded trains leave between 6 am and 7 am. Each operator should clearly set out its declassification policy, and there should be an obligation to record and publish—again, on a monthly or quarterly basis—how often trains or individual first-class carriages are declassified. That level of transparency will undoubtedly help commuters and passenger groups to determine how well train operators are responding to the challenge of overcrowding. Perhaps we should also consider setting out in franchises a minimum ratio for the number of standard-class seats on peak-time trains compared with first-class seats. It is absolutely right that anyone who pays the premium for a first-class ticket should enjoy a premium service. However, there is nothing more disheartening than walking through several relatively empty first-class carriages to reach some very crowded standard-class carriages, with passengers standing in aisles and vestibules. This is not about penalising high-paying first-class passengers, but about getting train configurations right at peak times. In its response to my queries, South West Trains noted that it offers expectant mothers who travel with a weekly, monthly or longer season ticket the opportunity to apply for a free first-class upgrade if no standard-class seats are available during their journey. I would like to see that extended across the entire rail network; indeed, it could be included in rail franchise agreements at little cost to the train operating companies. That would represent a common-sense approach. Also, where this does not currently happen, I am sure that the scheme could also be extended to include disabled passengers without operators incurring prohibitive costs. With changing work patterns, and an increase in working from home or more than one location, it also needs to be recognised that not all business commuting requires people to travel every day of the week. Some of my constituents might travel to London only three days a week, and not always on the same three days. However, the only choice they currently have is between buying a weekly season ticket and buying more expensive daily tickets. That does not represent value for money. We need train operators to offer more value-for-money ticketing options, and smart ticketing is very much part of the answer.