Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to alleviate passenger overcrowding on trains.

Increased capacity is being delivered through our record investment in the railway and programmes such as Intercity Express, Crossrail and Thameslink which add more, longer and newer trains to the railway network which will help in reducing overcrowding. The franchising system is also delivering capacity increases across the country, including 150 new carriages on South West Trains and 68 new carriages on c2c.　 The new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises will deliver an increase in peak capacity into the major northern cities by more than a third.

In addition, operators such as First Great Western are taking steps to reduce overcrowding by removing　some first class carriages and installing additional standard seats. With record passenger numbers across the country we expect operators to keep putting forward innovative proposals to reduce overcrowding.