Alok Sharma, the Member of Parliament for Reading West, has held discussions with Rail Minister Claire Perry MP to discuss rail overcrowding and secured her agreement to hold a meeting together with Mark Hopwood, Managing Director of First Great Western.

Earlier this month, Alok launched an online petition, which called on First Great Western to declassify First Class carriages during periods of overcrowding, which hundreds of people have already signed.

Alok Sharma said:

“I am grateful to Claire Perry for the discussions we have had on the issue of overcrowding and I will be raising the concerns of many of my commuting constituents in the joint meeting with First Great Western that not enough is being done to alleviate overcrowding in Standard Class during the busiest times. The option to declassify individual First Class carriages is available to First Great Western during periods of overcrowding, but I have never personally seen this happen on any service I have used in the past ten years.”

Alok continued:

“I appreciate that more Standard Class carriages are due to become available next year, but I will be seeking a commitment from First Great Western in this meeting that in the meantime, they will declassify individual First Class carriages on busy trains more often to ease overcrowding in Standard Class and publish on a monthly basis the trains on which declassification took place.”

Rail Minister Claire Perry said:

“The services on the Great Western mainline are some of the most crowded on the network. That’s why £13 million is being invested creating 3,000 more standard class seats a day for customers across the network. This will also mean nearly 16% more standard class accommodation on services into London in the busy morning peak.

“These are solutions to improve services for passengers on these busy trains. However, I do understand the concerns that Alok has raised on behalf of his constituents and I look forward to a constructive dialogue with Alok and First Great Western on this issue.”

The Department for Transport has already agreed to provide funding to provide almost 3,000 more standard class seats a day for customers across the network, which will mean nearly 16% more standard class accommodation on high speed services into London in the busy morning peak. The entire fleet of trains is due to be completed by late summer 2015.

However, before those carriages are fully available, Alok is seeking a commitment from First Great Western to declassify individual First Class carriages, depending on the level of overcrowding in Standard Class.

Photo: Alok discusses trains petition at Tilehurst Station