COMMUTERS are being consulted on plans to tackle overcrowding on trains.

National Express train operator c2c launched a three-month consultation scheme with passengers on their proposed new timetable to relieve crowding and improve connections.

The proposed timetable would start in December 2015 and include increased capacity at peak times and at the busiest stations, with 16 per cent more morning services.

c2c Managing Director Julian Drury said: “We are proposing these timetable changes to address two of the biggest issues for our passengers: crowding, and their changing travel patterns that require frequent links to the main interchange stations.

“We’ll support this with other improvements to passengers’ journeys, such as investment in stations, new wifi and smartcards, and compensation in future for trains delayed for as little as two minutes.

“This is a consultation, so we really do want passengers to look at the proposals for their station and to tell us what they think.”

Highlights from the proposed timetable, which would start in December 2015, include:

• More capacity at the busiest times and the busiest stations, with 16% more services in the AM peak

• Every train will stop at Barking, West Ham and Limehouse, creating a metro-style service

• Four trains per hour minimum at every station during peak times

• Faster off-peak journey times to and from London

• Earlier first trains and later last services

• New weekend services, with regular trains to Stratford and Liverpool Street and a new direct service from Rainham and Purfleet into central London on Sundays

The revised timetable is the first step in c2c’s plans for providing extra capacity over the next 15 years.

In addition to changing the timetable, c2c will be:

• Buying 17 new additional trains, which will provide around 20% more capacity and will start arriving from 2019

• Rewarding season ticket holders who travel outside peak hours under our flexible season tickets, available from 2016

• Providing live information to passengers in future, telling them where there's space on a train while they're waiting on the platform

• Working with Network Rail to invest in and improve the infrastructure, to improve service reliability and provide quicker journey times

Passengers can find tailored information about their individual stations and respond to the consultation at: c2crail.co.uk/consult_tt

The consultation will close on January 15, next year.