Quote:
Originally Posted by John_142
Well in my book nobody should be standing it should not be allowed Northern have no excuse for overcrowding trains they need to sort it out big time as one day something serious will happen and they will be the blame and then will they learn.
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TOCs should aim for 0% standing on all services, if trains normally have people standing then something happening outside of the TOCs control can result in some passengers unable to board a train due to how crowded it is.
Some examples that have affected the passenger numbers on trains include fuel protests a few years ago resulted in some car owners unable to get enough petrol to get to work meaning they had no option but to take the train at a peak time.
Engineering works or industrial action can affect other services. Last autumn weekend engineering works on the Manchester to Chester via Warrington line (which has faster services between Chester and Manchester than the line via Altrincham) meant many passengers travelling between Chester and Manchester opted to use the Manchester to Chester via Altrincham service rather than the replacement buses that Arriva Trains Wales were running. The Manchester to Chester via Altrincham services are already quite busy on Saturdays and Northern decided to continue to mainly use 2 car 142s. This resulted in some Manchester bound trains arriving at Knutsford, Hale and Altrincham so crowded passengers were left on the platform waiting an hour for the next service in the hope that they could get on it.
Likewise when Arriva ran the Transpennine Express franchisee and their staff went on strike. Arriva ran a reduced service between Manchester Airport and York and no service between Manchester and Liverpool or Manchester and Sheffield. I think most people can imagine how crowded the Central Trains Liverpool-Manchester-Sheffield-Norwich service was!
In contrast on the Transpennine Express service a lot of sporting events can draw extra crowds on the trains. Liverpool FC, Man United and the York races are all located along the Liverpool to Scarborough route. Before 185s were brought in I've seen on more than one occasion 3 158s joined together consisting of a total of 6 or 8 carriages in order to cope with the extra demand. It's a pity Northern Rail don't do likewise (and they do have trains not being used on Saturday as many of their routes get extra peak services on weekdays only.) In fact one type of fare promotion they have for tickets to Chester is not valid on racedays, which suggests Northern are actually trying to reduce passenger numbers on certain days.