TRAIN bosses have admitted introducing more stops at London stations has led to overcrowding and growing passenger numbers.

A representative from c2c wrote a 1,400 word letter to one disgruntled passenger who had complained of overcrowding, slower trains, and longer journeys since the company introduced a new timetable in December.

The Echo revealed last week that introducing more stops at east London stations such as West Ham, Limehouse and Barking was c2c's own idea- before the Department for Transport made it a contractual obligation.

In the letter to an unnamed passenger, the train operator admitted increased passenger numbers, leading to overcrowding, is down to 95 per cent of services now stopping at the London stations.

The letter read: “The introduction of a majority of our trains stopping at the key London interchange stations has attracted up to 5,000 additional passengers travelling with us from Fenchurch Street in the evenings.

“The increased frequency of services has on the one hand given our longer distance commuters greater choice but also provided options for customers wanting to quickly get from stations such as West Ham to Barking.

“This demand has led to overcrowding and we are aware of the feedback on social media.”

When contacted by the Echo, a c2c spokesman insisted the thousands of extra passengers was also down to increasing demand from commuters in Southend and Thurrock.

The spokesman said: “We are carrying more passengers than expected due to strong growth across the c2c route. This includes a lot of extra passengers from Thurrock and Southend, and not just those travelling within London.

“This is why we are working hard on bringing in additional carriages.”

The company said it has seen a 19 per cent increase in customers using trains from London Fenchurch Street in the evening peak since the new timetable came in.

Resultant overcrowding has led to c2c engaging in talks to lease extra carriages from an another operator, which they hope will be in place by late spring.

SERVICE GETTING NO BETTER

THE organiser of a protest against c2c’s new timetable said he has been left frustrated by contradictory statements from c2c bosses.

James Savill, 37, from Stanford-le-Hope, organised the well-attended protest in January, during which Sir David Amess, MP for Southend West, spoke out in support of passengers.

Mr Savill, who runs a Twitter account designed to put pressure on the company, the issues are still as bad as when the new timetable was first introduced.

He receives up to 500 tweets per day complaining about the service.

He said: “Since day one of the timetable there have been so many contradicting statements.

“One person saying one things and one person saying another.

“These comments about where the extra passengers are coming from is just another example.

“No-one knows what to believe anymore.

“It is a shame they are not governed more strongly so they cannot say so many different things.”