LEEDS OVERCROWDING

摘要

I have not been to Leeds very often during the past decade but I have memories of short local trains poorly loaded even at peak hours. The London trains did well and the cross-country services over the Pennines to Manchester and beyond were sometimes uncomfortably busy. More recently there has been a new beginning for most of the routes radiating from the magnificent rebuilt station situated at the southern edge of the city centre. New rolling stock has been obtained for the Aire Valley suburban routes, and for the Transpennine network. The London (Kings Cross) expresses are running half-hourly at last, Virgin Cross Country run every hour to Newcastle (and beyond) and to Birmingham (and points south) and even the most menial of local routes still suffering the dreadful 4-wheel 142s and 144s have seen a distinct improvement in service levels. What happens when you provide a better service? People begin to use it and over the past couple of years traffic has soared far beyond expectations resulting in extreme overcrowding.