300 crush into two-car train

7:32pm Thursday 14th February 2008

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By The Page Turner »

More than 300 rail passengers squeezed into two coaches from Oxford to London - because First Great Western failed to provide the booked train.

An InterCity 125 High Speed Train, with eight coaches and seats for about 500 people, should have been used on Sunday afternoon.

But a two-car Thames Turbo train was used instead, due to a "basic error", said FGW managers yesterday.

The Turbo had only 186 seats, which meant it was standing room only for about 50 passengers in each coach.

FGW spokesman Lance Cole apologised to pass- engers and added: "This certainly will not happen every Sunday."

His colleague Richard Smith said there were a "high number of standing passengers" on the train, but he added that customers were getting on and off along the route, so the total of 300 people might have changed.

He said: "This was certainly not acceptable and we have launched an internal investigation.

"There is no legal limit in terms of the total number of standing passengers and the Rail Safety and Standards Board says there is no evidence to say that standing passengers are at risk."

Zahra Akkerhuys, a spokesman for commuter group OxRail Action, which represents commuters between Oxford and London, said she was not surprised by the incident.

She added: "The 7.30am from Oxford to Paddington was late three times in the past week and yesterdaythursday it was 20 minutes late.

"The driver himself was so exasperated he urged passengers to complain to the company.

"We have had a meeting with Andrew Haines, the new chief operating officer, and he has promised that passengers will start to see green shoots of recovery, but the company is still not delivering its timetable."

Mr Cole said trains had been delayed during the past week for a variety of reasons, including a suicide at Slough last Friday, vandals damaging signal cables and a track circuit failure.

News of the overcrowding emerged at the same time as a survey showing FGW had imposed the second highest average fare increases of any operator since privatisation. Since 1995, the average standard peak-hour, walk-on single fare on First Great Western has risen by 145 per cent.

FGW consistently comes at or near the bottom of rail punctuality tables and latest figures show almost a fifth of its trains ran late last year.

Season ticket increases have been much lower, because these fares are capped by the Government and users get discounts if operators fail to meet punctuality targets.

Mr Cole added: "First Great Western is investing over £200m in its franchise and is the only train operator which is refreshing all the trains in its fleet.

"The current First Great Western franchise brought together three former franchises in 2006, and the company believes that its customers receive good value from season tickets, and that the range of advance fares on offer allow flexibility for off-peak customers."