A mayor has called on East Midlands Railway (EMR) to temporarily scrap First Class designations while ongoing reliability and maintenance problems impact its train fleet.
South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard says he wants the firm to open up all carriages to passengers equally, so no one is left standing in overcrowded trains while seats remain unused.
The call comes after EMR announced significant service reductions on routes linking Sheffield with the East Midlands and London, following ongoing reliability and maintenance problems impacting its train fleet.
The disruption has led to cancelled services, shorter trains and increased chance of overcrowding for passengers travelling into and out of South Yorkshire.
Although train managers do have the option to declassify first class carriages when trains are busy, Coppard wants EMR to introduce a blanket agreement across all Intercity services, to help tackle overcrowding while the operator continues to run fewer services.
Coppard said: “Because of the problems on EMR, too many people are facing cancelled trains, overcrowded carriages and longer journeys because of problems completely outside their control.
“At a time when too many passengers are being left standing, squeezed into carriages and crowded around doors and toilets, it simply makes sense for the whole of the trains capacity to be used as a matter of course.
“For as long as EMR are operating a reduced timetable, they should make every seat available by declassifying their First Class carriages. We all have a right to expect a safe, comfortable and dependable journey when we travel by rail.
“Until services are back to normal, common sense should prevail. If there are empty seats available in First Class, people should be able to use them.
“Protecting the profits of EMR can’t be a good enough reason for them not to take a sensible, pragmatic decision that would give more people peace of mind.”
An East Midlands Railway spokesperson told The Business Desk: “Train managers on board already have the authority to declassify First Class where operational circumstances warrant it, exercising professional judgement based on real-time conditions such as disruption and crowding.
“That operational flexibility provides an effective and proportionate response, without the need for permanent declassification.”
