TRAIN travellers into London will be forced to squeeze onto two “already packed” services after the cancellation of a vital rush-hour train, a resident has warned.

South West Trains has announced it will cut rush-hour services to speed up a £275 million upgrade of carriages, with the 7.24 train from Reading to Waterloo removed for three months and the 17.05 train from Waterloo to Aldershot starting from Ascot.

The changes came into effect on Monday. 

The service stopped at Wokingham at 7.33am, Bracknell at 7.39am, Martins Heron at 7.42am, Ascot at 7.47am and Sunningdale at 7.50am before arriving in at Waterloo at 8.46am, before the changes came into effect on Monday.

But passengers have expressed their anger at the sudden change which is part of the rail giant’s pledge to introduce 258 extra carriages by 2018, in a 30 per cent increase. 

Derek Walklate, who lives in Forest Park, commutes into London from Martins Heron and usually takes the 7.42 train as the earlier 7.35 is “already packed with people standing”.

He said: “This is a big concern. This is one of those kinds of things that are swept under the carpet. These are trains at rush hour and already have so much many people on there.

“It’s very disappointing to see a total disregard for the commuters again.

“The train prior to the 07.42 is the 07.35 but this train is already packed with people standing even though they have one hour’s journey ahead of them. I’ve seen people shouting and women screaming because people just start pushing on and it’s not very pleasant.

“How will all of these hundreds of passengers now travel to Waterloo?

“A monthly ticket from Martins Heron to Waterloo costs £329 per month and this service is totally unacceptable.”
He also criticised the lack of information surrounding the changes. 

“I think they I’m sure there will be lots of people standing on the platform waiting for the 7.42 this week as they won’t know about it. 

“I only heard about it once on the train and I couldn’t find any information on the website either. 

“I think it could have been done better as the communication hasn’t been that good.” 

A spokesman for South West Trains said: “The services are expected to be reintroduced before Christmas and we will continue to run all other carriages which are available.

“Changing services is never a decision which is taken lightly but this will allow us to introduce the additional carriages and extra space for passengers more quickly.”