Extra seats boost for rail passengers

Northern Rail, which operates commuter routes in an area stretching from Carlisle to Stoke and Newcastle to Lincoln, yesterday began running new services and longer trains using 50 new carriages.

They were paid for under the Department for Transport’s rolling stock programme, to enable more capacity on peak-time trains in and out of major centres.

Routes benefiting include those between Leeds and Knaresborough, Harrogate, Sheffield, Manchester (on some routes), Doncaster, Huddersfield, Skipton and Ilkley.

Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said: “We are embarked on one of the biggest programmes of rail capacity expansion since the Victorian era.”