Revealed: Yorkshire’s most overcrowded train (It’s 62% over capacity)

More than 100,000 London-bound rail commuters - a fifth of the overall total - have to stand at the busiest times of the morning rush-hour.

Passengers on some morning and evening peak services, including one through Leeds and York, are travelling on trains which are 60% over capacity on certain routes, the Department for Transport figures showed.

The region’s most overcrowded train is an early morning service from Manchester Airport to Middlesbrough, which calls at Huddersfield, Leeds and York. It has seats for 166 but actually carries 269 passengers - making it 62% over capacity and the third most overcrowded journey in the UK.

The highest levels outside London in the 2012 statistics were at Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, which all had just over 2% overcrowding in the morning peak and between 1% and 2% in the afternoon peak.

The worst service for overcrowding in autumn 2012 was the 8.27am Heathrow Express service from Heathrow to Paddington station in London which travelled with 786 standard-class passengers - 65% over the capacity figure of 476.

The First Great Western train company had the highest level of “passengers in excess of capacity” of any London and south east England operator in 2012 at 7.1% across both peaks - although this was lower than in 2011.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said: “Climbing on to a very crowded train is an unpleasant experience and I sympathise with passengers using these services.

“I urge train operators to do what they can on these particular trains. The Department is working closely with the industry to ensure this issue is tackled.

The statistics showed that, on a typical weekday in autumn 2012, a total of 535,000 passengers arrived in central London by rail during the morning peak (7am to 9.59am) and 977,000 across the whole day.

The Department for Transport said: “ In London, overall crowding across both peaks in 2012 was lower than in 2011. However, over 100,000 passengers had to stand at trains’ busiest points in the morning peak, a fifth of the overall total.”

Richard Hebditch, campaigns director for the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “These statistics show rail is vital to the economy, getting millions of people to work every day.

“But it also shows many commuters are faced with an unacceptable combination of overcrowded trains and spiralling ticket prices.

“Government needs to give rail passengers a fair deal by ending above-inflation ticket price hikes and making sure franchise holders tackle overcrowding.”

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: “Year on year, the official measure of overcrowding during peak times has fallen slightly overall.”

RMT rail union leader Bob Crow said: “While passengers are forced to pay through the nose to stand, crammed in on sweltering, overcrowded trains, the private companies running these services are making huge profits in the safe knowledge that the whole racket of rail privatisation is a one-way ticket to the bank.”