The transport secretary, Douglas Alexander, said the extra carriages would be brought into operation between 2009 and 2014 to ease the overcrowding on peak-time services.

The government will pay for the newly-built carriages - equivalent to roughly one-tenth of the current stock - and lease them to train companies at a cost of £130m a year.

Mr Alexander said the new carriages were "an important first step" in tackling overcrowding on a network on which more than 1bn passenger journeys are made every year.

At a rail conference today, he said the government would "specify that 1,000 new carriages should be targeted at the most congested routes to effectively tackle passenger demand".

"In this way, if the price is right, I anticipate that we will significantly increase the number of carriages on the network by 2014," he added.

"Of course, these carriages are not the only answer. We will need investment in infrastructure as well. Money will still have to be accounted for, and our budget will remain tight.

"Our immediate challenge is to tackle capacity to meet future demand. These new carriages are an important first step."

Julia Thomas, of the campaign group Transport 2000, welcomed the extra capacity but warned that it was unlikely to provide much relief to overcrowding.

"Since 1995, there has been a 66% increase in passenger kilometres on the railways," she said.

"Currently, there is an increase in passengers of about 10% year on year. Our concern is that, with such rapid growth in passenger numbers, I do not think it is going to make such a big difference as the government says."

Ms Thomas said overcrowding problems existed not only in London and the south-east but all over the country, including other urban areas such as the West Midlands and even in rural Wales.

She criticised "the ridiculous situation" in which train operators hired rolling stock from companies that "can basically charge what they like", and called for longer franchise contracts to give train operators more reason to contribute to infrastructure improvements.

The Passenger Focus chief executive, Anthony Smith, said: "It's good news. Hopefully it's going to lead to a bit less overcrowding, so let's write some cheques and get on with it."

George Muir, the director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, predicted that the extra capacity would soon be used up.

"It's going to be a little bit neck and neck to keep the capacity and the growth alongside each other. But this 1,000 [carriages] is a good step," he told the BBC's Today programme.

He said current platforms would "not quite" be able to cope with bigger trains.

"Infrastructure is required to do it, particularly on the approaches to Waterloo and into Paddington and the Thameslink programme which goes north-south across London," he said.

The shadow transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said longer trains had been promised in the governent's 10-year plan five years ago.

"This is just another jam tomorrow announcement from the government," he added.

Today's announcement effectively pre-empts part of what the government will say when it publishes what is known as the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) which will outline government plans for the railway for the next few years.

Mr Alexander said the HLOS would be a plan "that takes us beyond the next five years to the decades ahead".

He added that the plan would "give us the flexibility to meet future demands and to increase capacity where demand is greatest".

There could be "a possible role" for high-speed rail, and the government would also have to consider the role of major improvements and additional lines such as Thameslink and the cross-London Crossrail scheme, he said.

See also:

Rail carriages promise "a farce"

The Bolton News: 14 March 2007
By Andy McFarlane

CAMPAIGNERS have dismissed as "a farce" the government's pledge to put 1,000 extra carriages on Britain's railways by 2014.

Train operators welcomed the announcement which they said would benefit regional services such as the crammed Bolton to Manchester services.

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said the annual £130 million investment, to begin in 2009, was an "important first step" in tackling overcrowding.
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But Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Campaign chairman Tony Fawthrop branded his speech "typical government hype".

"It's a farce," he said.

"There are already vast numbers of perfectly good carriages made surplus when Virgin introduced Pendolinos and Voyagers.

"Most of them are either being scrapped, rotting in sidings or have been bought by priavte companies for charter.

"There's also a large number of diesel units available because of the new fleet introduced for the TransPennine franchise."

Announcing the investment at a London rail conference, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said the government would "specify that 1,000 new carriages should be targeted at the most congested routes to effectively tackle passenger demand.

"My department is actively considering exactly where these carriages need to be added and has very recently begun to discuss with train manufacturers how they can cost-effectively be delivered."

George Muir, of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "We've got to see the details, but a thousand carriages, when we get them on the track carrying passengers, that'll make a lot of difference."

The extra carriages could increase capacity by 20 per cent and benefit regional services around cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, he said.

Carolyn Watson, of Northern Trains which operates many services through Bolton, said: "Today's announcement is great news for passengers and we eagerly await further information from the government about how these carriages will be deployed."

The company has been in negotiations with regional transport officials over the possibility of leasing extra carriages to increase capacity, as it has done in West Yorkshire.

Overcrowding is among the issues for discussion at a meeting of the Bolton Local Transport Public Forum at the Quaker Meeting House, Silverwell Street, at 2pm tomorrow. People who want to raise issues about any aspect of public transport can attend an operators surgery at 1.15pm.

See also:

1,000 extra rail carriages planned

Press Association: March 14, 2007

Rail commuters have been promised an extra 1,000 train carriages for the most-congested spots on the network.

The commitment was made by Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander in a speech at a rail conference in London.

It is planned that the extra carriages will be introduced between 2009 and 2014 at a cost of about £130 million a year, to be funded out of the Department for Transport rail budget.

Mr Alexander said the new carriages were "an important first step" in tackling overcrowding on a network on which more than one billion passengers' journeys are being made a year.

Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith and Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) director general George Muir both welcomed the announcement.

At the rail conference Mr Alexander said that this summer the Government would "specify that 1,000 new carriages should be targeted at the most congested routes to effectively tackle passenger demand".

Shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling said: "We support the idea of longer trains. But the problem is nothing is going to happen for seven more years, at a time when overcrowding is already endemic, and we've been promised this all before in the (transport) 10-year plan five years ago. This is just another 'jam tomorrow' announcement from the Government."

Speaking at the rail conference, Office of Rail Regulation chairman Chris Bolt said: "Comparing the rail industry with what it was three years ago, performance and reliability are better, overall passenger satisfaction is high and demand for the transport of goods and passengers is growing fast. Despite the (Cumbria) derailment at Grayrigg, safety has improved on a number of key measures."

The announcement effectively pre-empts part of what the Government will be saying when it publishes what is known as the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) which will outline Government plans for the railway for the next few years.

Mr Alexander said that the HLOS would be a plan "that takes us beyond the next five years to the decades ahead".

He added that the plan would "give us the flexibility to meet future demands and to increase capacity where demand is greatest".