UK trains fast becoming ‘cattle-cars’, says panel

Britain's railways will become 'intolerably' crowded in a few years, warns a parliamentary committee. Is Mamata Banerjee listening?

Indian train travellers, who take 'cattle-car' conditions for granted, can take heart from this – the United Kingdom, the country that invented the railway and laid the foundation for the vast Indian Railways network, is facing the same problem.

Rail passengers face years of worsening overcrowding despite soaring fares, a parliamentary watchdog warned on Tuesday.

Crucial targets for increasing capacity on the nation's creaking rail network will be missed, warned a report by the all-party Public Accounts Committee.

The MPs say available space on trains could fall by up to a third, forcing rush-hour commuters to endure even worse levels of overcrowding. They will face more 'standing room only' journeys, despite ticket prices increasing above the rate of inflation.

A £9-billion investment programme designed to double the number of places on trains was launched three years ago. But a failure to deliver enough extra seats will mean that efforts to keep overcrowding at current levels will fall well short over the next four years, despite annual fare increases of 3 per cent above inflation.