Passengers quiz rail boss on 'shocking' overcrowding

Commuters have described train overcrowding as "shocking" during a public meeting with a rail boss.

Campaign group Railfuture invited a senior manager from CrossCountry to answer questions at West Oxford Community Centre on Monday.

Passengers expressed concerns that there was not enough room on a route between Bournemouth and Manchester.

CrossCountry senior manager Richard Gibson acknowledged there was a "capacity issue" and outlined "aspirations" to reinstate more services.

The operator announced earlier in the year that it would increase capacity across its network, with 12 new trains by May 2025.

A regular Banbury commuter asked if the uplift was "for certain".

"I don't think we can go much longer with these reduced services," he said.

He described the overcrowding on CrossCountry's Manchester to Bournemouth services as "shocking".

Mr Gibson said he could not give "an absolute cast iron guarantee", as logistics had to be agreed with the Department for Transport.

"But it remains our aspirations to return [the services] when we can," he said.

Several residents asked if there would be improvements for the elderly, vulnerable and people with children in times when staff could not get through overcrowded trains.

Mr Gibson said that there was "no specific policy" and expected staff to look after all customers.

He said the capacity issue had been "a challenge for CrossCountry for a long time".

A blind resident commented that he really appreciated the customer assistance, particularly at Birmingham.

By Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

CrossCountry has long been something of a Cinderella service.

Especially on the busy corridor that stretches from the south coast through Reading and Oxford to Birmingham.

It inevitably suffers a knock-on impact when anything goes wrong on the services it shares lines with, such as the conflicting passenger lines to London.

CrossCountry depends on financial support from the Government. Since the pandemic, that has been cut back.

So if you’re looking for someone to blame for a poor service on CrossCountry, you have to look a lot wider than just the bosses of that operator.

Leisure travel is booming and most CrossCountry passengers are not travelling for work.

The trains are often packed. That isn’t going to change any time soon.

Dave Richardson, spokesperson for Railfuture's Thames Valley branch, said that without more capacity campaigners felt that "the service will struggle".

“We are grateful to CrossCountry Trains for sending an experienced rail professional... but disappointed that restoration of the timetable of two trains an hour on the busy Reading-Oxford-Banbury-Birmingham route is only an aspiration at this stage," he said.

Mr Richardson said he had witnessed "simply unacceptable" overcrowding, and even seen people standing in accessible toilets.

He said Railfuture called on the Department for Transport the allow the lease of "more Voyager trains from next May in addition to the 12 already promised”.

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