Rail passengers in England and Wales face “substantial increases in already unacceptable overcrowding levels” by 2014 and beyond, a report by MPs says.
Department for Transport plans suggest targets for increasing passenger places will be missed.
It was “not clear to passengers” where money from fare rises went and firms should be made to tackle overcrowding and not rely on subsidies, it added.
The government said plans to improve the situation would be unveiled soon.
Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said MPs were concerned that the “already unacceptable levels of overcrowding will simply get worse and ever more intolerable”.
She added: “At present there is no incentive for the rail industry to supply extra capacity without additional public subsidy.
“The DfT should, for future franchises, require operators to take measures themselves to avoid overcrowding and to meet the costs of doing so.”
The elephant in the room, as ever, is how many of the commuters squeezed into trains could be working via the internet? I bet a good fifty per cent of them needn’t travel “to the office” every day.
Time for employers to wake up to the benefits of using teleworking, instead of being control freaks and insisting on people being in an office where they can be controlled. Treat your workers like human beings, not slaves.