£1.2bn spent on railways failing to cut overcrowding on trains

The National Audit Office, which scrutinises public spending, says although taxpayer funding to train companies is set to remain close to a planned figure of 1.2bn, the envisaged improvements to services will not materialise.

Projected spending by the Department for Transport (DfT) between 2009 and 2014 is expected to increase capacity for morning-peak passenger numbers into London by 99,000 and by 25,500 into other English cities. But the figure for London is 15 per cent lower than originally planned with the figure outside the capital 33 per cent down.

And Passenger Transport Executives in the North – which includes West and South Yorkshire – believe their expectations for increased capacity have not been met.

The report warns value for money is at risk because costs, particularly of rail carriages, have risen at the same time as demand has fallen.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said he welcomed the report which he claimed underlined a failure by the previous Labour government to control public spending.

Demand for rail travel has increased significantly in recent years with an estimated 1.27 billion passenger journeys made in 2008-09 compared with 0.74 billion in 1994-95. Although capacity has also risen, crowding is widespread at peak times into major cities.

The DfT published a 30-year strategy in July 2007 when there was strong growth in rail travel and widespread crowding on commuter services.

Planning concentrated heavily on securing extra carriages to meet forecast demand in the peak periods.

By March 2010, it had secured the use of 526 extra carriages, with a further 106 ordered and due to be ready for operation by 2012.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said: "Since that announcement was made in 2007 the growth in passenger numbers has not materialised and costs have soared, leaving Labour's plans in tatters.

"The last Government claimed it had abolished boom and bust and seemed to believe that taxpayers' money grew on trees; this Government will act more responsibly.

"We inherit a situation where, according to the NAO, significantly fewer new trains will be delivered for the money committed than were promised to passengers.

"I announced on 24 May a pause in the rolling stock programme. This report makes clear that we need to go further and on the back of its findings I have ordered an urgent reappraisal of the whole programme."

But the chairman of Metro (West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive), Ryk Downes, said: "Metro has been arguing for some time for the additional carriages necessary to tackle current overcrowding and support economic growth across the city region. It is hugely frustrating that out of the 182 carriages originally promised for Northern, only a handful have actually been approved so far. That's despite Northern now carrying 34 per cent more passengers than what began as a 'no-growth' franchise in 2004.

"Continued investment in the local network is needed alongside longer-term proposals, including high-speed rail. Given the department's reliance on electrification to solve the rolling stock problems we would like to see an ambitious plan to electrify more regional and commuter routes.

"In these tough financial times we will need to be even clearer in making our case for investment in the North."