'Cattle trucks' answer to rail crowds

Connex hopes to make rail travel more "bearable"

A commuter rail company has admitted it may have to tackle overcrowding by creating "cattle trucks".

Connex South Eastern has told suburban passengers it is planning to take out seats and create more standing room in carriages.

The company explained its plans, and invited comments, in a leaflet sent to passengers.

The leaflet says: "Designing a cattle-truck? Possibly. But the painful reality is that peak-time passengers on south London journeys usually have to stand, and may well feel like cattle."

We have to take seriously the possibility that we should design our train strategy for overcrowding

Denis Paillat, project manager

It continued: "We can't find a way to make that not true.

"We can, with your help, find a way to make it more bearable."

In the leaflet passengers are told it is simply not possible to run any more trains into London in the rush hour.

And attempts to run longer trains have been thwarted by mechanical failures, shortage of stock and vandalism.

'Best use' of trains

Denis Paillat, Connex's suburban trains project manager, said: "We have to take seriously the possibility that we should design our train strategy for overcrowding and make the best use of the trains we have available now.

"Our solution is to have fit-for-purpose trains on all routes - short hauls using carriages designed for standing and longer hauls where we have fewer passengers with as many seats as possible."

Connex plans to decide on its seating strategy in the autumn following the consultation.