London-bound trains named most overcrowded services in the UK

For all those complaining about not getting a seat on a London-bound train, please look away, as there’s more bad news.

More than 100,000 rail commuters coming to the capital have to stand in the busiest times of the morning rush hour. This makes London-bound trains the most overcrowded services in the country.

The report, compiled by the Department of Transport (DfT), has identified the most overcrowded routes in 2012 with the 08:27 Heathrow-London Paddington journey coming in first.

On average, a total of 977,000 people travel into London by train each day. Seven of the 10 most overcrowded trains were heading for London during the morning rush hour.

London and south-east England operator First Great Western has been named the most crowded franchise, with 7.1% more passengers than space.

Norman Baker, the local transport minister, said: “Climbing on to a very crowded train is an unpleasant experience and I sympathise with passengers using these services.

“I urge train operators to do what they can on these particular trains. The Department is working closely with the industry to ensure this issue is tackled.”

Most over-crowded routes in autumn 2012

    08:27 Heathrow-London Paddington

    18:13 London Euston-Birmingham New Street

    06:23 Manchester Airport-Middlesbrough

    18:00 London Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour

    07:17 Banbury-London Marylebone

    06:19 Birmingham Moor St-London Marylebone

    07:32 Tattenham Corner-London Bridge

    06:15 Portsmouth Harbour-London Waterloo

    07:09 Henley-on-Thames-London Paddington

    07:10 Haslemere-London Waterloo