§ MR. NIELD (Middlesex, Ealing)To ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether he is aware that there is overcrowding of passengers on the Metropolitan Railway between Baker Street and Harrow, owing to the reduction during the late morning and afternoon of the number of coaches, and that such overcrowding extends to carrying a number of persons on the guard's platform of the coaches of electric trains, preventing the ready ingress and egress of passengers; and whether he will cause an inquiry to be made and an intimation to be given to the company expressing the disapproval of the Board of Trade of this practice.
(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) The railway company inform me that it is their practice to reduce the length of the trains on the section of line referred to from six to three cars between the hours of 10.15 a.m. and 5 p.m., when the traffic is comparatively light, and that as trains are run at regular intervals of five minutes the accommodation afforded is found in ordinary circumstances to be quite sufficient. Trains of full capacity are, however, run throughout the day on 1835 Saturdays and on other occasions when the traffic is heavier than usual. As regards the conveyance of passengers on the carriage platforms the company have a regulation forbidding this practice, and they assure me that the trains between Baker Street and Harrow will be kept under close observation, and that, if necessary, special steps will be taken to deal with any case of persistent disregard of the regulation referred to.