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Do you travel on one of the UK’s most overcrowded trains?

Written by on 27/07/2017

Few people relish the rush hour commute.

But new figures released by the Department for Transport show that some people have a much more crushed journey than others.

An early morning service from West Sussex to London run by Southern Rail is the UK’s worst offender, according to statistics taken from weekday trains in major cities across England and Wales last year.

Other jam-packed journeys making the top 10 overcrowded list include the 6.57am Brighton to Bedford, the 7.55am Cambridge to London King’s Cross and the 4pm Manchester Airport to Edinburgh.

Co-director of the Association of British Commuters, Bradley Rees, told Sky News: "We’re in the third year of remedial measures on Southern Rail now, and they have been continually breaching their performance metrics.

"Year on year we’ve seen them fail to meet their performance benchmarks, and the bar keeps getting lowered. What has to happen before this massive franchise – which is basically out of control and not performing in any way that passengers need – does something to change the situation?"

Referring to the "over complicated" network, split up between lots of different rail companies, he said it was "prone to failure" and said there was little incentive for companies to get better.

The Department for Transport has promised that extra services will be added to routes south of London next year, following completion of the Thameslink Programme.

Take a look at the list below to find out if your daily commute is on one of the UK’s most overcrowded trains.

The UK’s most overcrowded trains

  1. 7.16am East Grinstead to London Bridge (640 capacity /1,366 passengers*)
  2. 7.55am Cambridge to London King’s Cross (202 capacity / 426 passengers*)
  3. 5.08pm Sutton to St Albans City (391 capacity / 758 passengers*)
  4. 6.57am Brighton to Bedford (630 capacity / 1,215 passengers*)
  5. 4pm Manchester Airport to Edinburgh (191 capacity / 357 passengers*)
  6. 7.27am Reigate to London Bridge (669 capacity /1,233 passengers*)
  7. 5.18pm London Paddington to Oxford (242 capacity / 445 passengers*)
  8. 4.22am Glasgow Central to Manchester Airport (191 capacity / 344 passengers*)
  9. 4.26pm Bedford to Brighton (372 capacity / 669 passengers*)
  10. 6.13pm London Euston to Birmingham New Street (412 capacity / 729 passengers*)

* Number of passengers carried at the train’s most crowded point

(c) Sky News 2017: Do you travel on one of the UK’s most overcrowded trains?