To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 26 March 2009, Official Report, column 576W, on railways: overcrowding, when the passengers in excess of capacity measure will be replaced; what measure for monitoring passenger numbers was used in 2008; and what measure for monitoring passenger numbers will be used for 2009. (279313)

The Department for Transport will continue to monitor passenger numbers against capacity and does not plan to replace this measure.

The Office for Rail Regulation publishes statistics on passengers in excess of capacity in National Rail Trends:

http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/rolling-c1-railusage.pdf

In 2008 a measure was published for train operating companies covering London and the south-east. The same measure will be updated in the National Rail Trends Yearbook when it becomes available on 30 July 2009.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 26 March 2009, Official Report, column 576W, on railways: overcrowding, what capacity benchmarks are used for each franchise let after 2004; and how operators are measured against those benchmarks. (279314)

Franchises let since 2004 include a performance regime which requires, where appropriate, a franchisee to report actual provision of seating capacity against that scheduled. This regime is based on targets, which usually require the franchisee to progressively improve actual provision compared with planned provision, over the life of the franchise.

The specific arrangements for each operator can viewed on the Department for Transport's website at the following address:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/publicregister/current/