Midland trains could have seats and toilets removed to ease overcrowding

Trains across Birmingham and the West Midlands could have seats and toilets removed – to reduce overcrowding.

The Department for Transport says changes to carriages are needed to cope with a dramatic increase in passenger numbers which has made commuting a misery.

Providing fewer seats and toilets would allow train carriages to have wider aisles and more space to stand, according to the Department for Transport.

It has included the proposal in a consultation about the future of the West Midlands rail franchise, currently known as the London Midland service.

Rail firms have been invited to bid to take over the line when the current franchise ends in October 2017.

This includes local services stopping at stations within Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and the rest of the Black Country, as well as throughout the wider West Midlands including Lichfield, Shrewsbury, Redditch and Worcester, Stratford and Coventry.

It also includes long distance services between the West Midlands, Liverpool and London Euston.

More than 65.3 million journeys are made on West Midlands franchise services each year - but the number has more than doubled since 2004.

And the Department for Transport says: “This has caused a number of issues with overcrowding across the franchise area which need to be addressed.”

The consultation document warns: “This is especially the case on some commuter services into London and Birmingham where large numbers of customers are standing in confined areas and on occasion some passengers are being left behind.”

And it says rail companies bidding for the franchise “will be asked to look at options for adapting the current train fleet on some shorter distance services to increase capacity where it cannot be provided in other ways.

“Ideas that may be explored include providing fewer seats but more standing space and wider aisles to help people board and alight busy services more easily, or removing/reducing some on board facilities like first class seating or toilets.”

Another option would be banning people from taking full-size taking bicycles on to trains in peak time.

The Department for Transport says the best option would be to provide more trains or longer trains with more carriages, “however, this may not be affordable or operationally deliverable in all areas of crowding due to constraints such as platform lengths and space within timetables and at stations to fit extra trains in.”