Network Rail report says Surbiton Station severely overcrowded

A Network Rail report has named Surbiton Station as one of 11 stations throughout the country which need urgent action to ease overcrowding. 

 

Other London stations named in the report are Charing Cross, Clapham Junction, Fenchurch Street, Victoria and Wimbledon.  The report highlights overcrowding as opposed to the busiest stations, although there is of course a connection.  Network Rail stated that 'There is not a direct correlation between the number of station users and the level of congestion observed.  So merely analysing which stations have the greatest numbers of users will not of itself highlight where crowding is a particular difficulty.'

 

Network Rail has stated that they plan to identify measures to reduce congestion at the ticket office, on the platforms and in the trains.  However, they are clearly not rushing anything as they have set the target for identifying the measures until 2019!

 

We are lucky to live in Surbiton and without a doubt; the frequency of the train service is why many of us chose to live here.  However, overcrowding is a real problem.  We are constantly told that it is almost impossible to increase the numbers of trains at peak time, and that it's not viable to increase the number of carriages.  So what can be done?

 

Surbitonpeople is currently campaigning for extra carriages to be added to trains during the weekend.  We think it's ridiculous to make passengers stand on the trains during the weekend as well as during peak hours on weekdays. 

 

Perhaps they could look again at where people travel to.  Years ago, there used to be peak-time trains to Waterloo that stopped only at Clapham, or Clapham and Vauxhall, or Wimbledon.  Now, if you want to travel to any of these stations, you have to wait for the packed stopping trains that stop at many other stations along the way.

 

Maybe the only real way to sort out the problem once and for all is to bring in double-decker trains.  They have them in many other countries, but for some reason, they have never taken off here.  That is of course a very long-term and expensive solution, but it would perhaps be a smarter way of spending the millions of pounds that the government are planning to spend on new cross country high speed rail lines.  Just a thought!