Regarding the fair deal, February 8, I, too, like Philip Ross, was shocked to read that First Capital Connect is planning to reduce the number of carriages as part of plans to deal with overcrowding. The truth of the matter is that we are actually planni

Regarding the fair deal, February 8, I, too, like Philip Ross, was shocked to read that First Capital Connect is planning to reduce the number of carriages as part of plans to deal with overcrowding.

The truth of the matter is that we are actually planning to run additional trains to deal with the high levels of overcrowding currently experienced by customers on the route.

Since taking over the franchise last year we have been exploring how we can alleviate overcrowding. First Capital Connect and the Department for Transport have jointly funded an external study to identify the best way to deliver improvements through a mixture of timetable changes and introduction of additional trains onto the route.

The study has been submitted to the Department for Transport and, if approved, we hope to be able to run four additional trains to help alleviate overcrowding and provide more seats for our customers. The whole thrust of our proposal is to ease the current levels of crowding in the peak periods.

ELAINE HOLT, Managing Director, First Capital Connect