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Passengers suffer more overcrowding

Reporter: Laura Wild
Date online: 07 December 2009

Passengers travelling on the Leeds train from Manchester Victoria via Rochdale yesterday (Sunday 6 December) suffered severe overcrowding.

The train departed at 15.11 and by that stage all the seats had been taken and there was no room left for passengers to stand.

When the train stopped at stations people had to step off the carriages to let those alighting at that station to leave the train before they got back on to continue their journey.
The train was so busy that tickets were not checked.

Although Christmas shopping is a contributing factor, members of STORM (Support the Oldham Rochdale Manchester rail line) believe that the primary reason for the overcrowding is the failure to replace the Sunday Oldham Loop services with Sunday Victoria-Rochdale turn backs.

Richard Greenwood from STORM, said: “This situation has been getting worse for the last three years, we can not get to the bottom of who is to blame for the lack of carriages but it is high time that somebody got it sorted.”

Comments

And they wonder why people don't use public transport.
I wouldn't dream of getting a bus or train into Manchester. It's far more comfortable, and I'm going to guess cheaper if you know where to park to use the car.

An off peak return ticket from Castleton to Victoria is £3 - can you park in Manchester for this? Granted if there are four in a car it would probably be cheaper but not faster, if you can get on the train that is.