This morning Greg Smith MP highlighted the miserable overcrowded conditions many constituents (himself included) endure on rush hour Chiltern Railway services from stations like Haddenham and Thame Parkway and Princes Risborough. The new Chiltern timetable in theory increased capacity, but recent weeks have seen significant passenger displacement onto these services due to works in the Oxford area. Once those works are complete Greg is assured things will get better - however - another threat is quite literally down the line, in that currently Chiltern are under an obligation to end the use of Class 68 loco-hauled trains (the really big ones). If this happens capacity will be right back down again. Chiltern have already converted these to run on HVO - a cleaner fuel than diesel. So this morning Greg asked the Secretary of State for Transport to ensure Chiltern can continue to use these trains until full fleet renewal can take place.
