Trains - Need to tackle overcrowding

There were over 50 people on the platform waiting for the 12.03 train at Market Rasen on Saturday, February 18.

When the train arrived it only consisted of one carriage.

This was already nearly full to standing. People were crammed in like sardines, literally.

There were people in the guard’s van, it was as impossible to move.

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At least 12 people, including four families with prams, and a person in a wheelchair, were left behind on the platform. The guard - he was doing his best in impossible conditions - had radioed ahead when the train was leaving Grimsby that this would probably happen - because it frequently happens, and EM trains know this. But they refused to organise a bus in advance .

By the time the train had got to Market Rasen it was a pointless gesture anyway.

To have a train overcrowded in such a dangerous way is asking for trouble.

If there was a derailment, like there was with the freight train last year, there would have been carnage.

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To have to leave five mothers and children and a person in a wheelchair behind is appalling.

It is obvious that you need two carriages on this service, especially at half term.

Quite a few people took phone videos, and they are no doubt out on Utube - ‘EMT cattle truck’ , Railway from Hell’ etc. EM’s franchise comes up soon . . . . . write to the regulator ! or the Transport Minister, Mr. Grayling.

EM trains consistently allow overcrowded trains on this line - as nearly every night on the 5.22pm service out of Lincoln.

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They have their excuses - no carriages - but remember that they rent them, they don’t own them, so it suits them to hire the bare minimum.

Will our MP, who writes so consistently to this paper, tackle his government on this? He has tried in the past but . . . . . ?

Difficult though, since he supports a government that spends £1,943 per person on transport in the south, and £190 per head in Lincolnshire and the Humber!

Crossrail cost £4.7 billion. The total bill for all transport in the North of England is £6.6 billion.

This will probably widen even further after Brexit.

So much for the Northern Powerhouse !

David Kirshner

Kingsway, Tealby