Plans to reduce the number of seats on trains along the Marston Vale line by 25 per cent have been criticised by commuters.

At the moment the line is served by two trains, one of which has two carriages and can seat up to 140 passengers, the other a one-carriage train that can seat 70.

But in May London Midland Trains, which runs the route between Bedford and Bletchley, plans to cut that to two single-carriage locomotives
Richard Crane, chairman of the Bedford-Bletchley Rail Users' Association, said: "This caught us totally on the hop. I knew nothing about this at all.

"I think most rail operators are trying to save all the money they can, and only running one carriage would be cheaper for London Midland.

"They claim that other than the 7.32am train to Bedford, which we call the St Trinian's service because it takes all the students to school, none of the trains carry more than 70 people."

The Marston Vale line has been run by London Midland since November 2007, and calls at 10 stops between Bedford and Bletchley.

It was originally the central stretch of the Varsity Line, which linked Oxford and Cambridge until the 1960s.

In recent years there have been calls to have the line become part of the East-West Rail Link.

Mr Crane said: "If London Midland is talking about growing the line it seems a very strange move. At our last annual meeting a senior director told us they wanted to increase to two-carriage trains.

"After the cut the only two-carriage train would be the morning school service, and that only from Monday to Friday during term time.

"It is a strange and unexplained decision."

A spokesman for London Midland said: "London Midland is proposing to move to a single carriage service in each direction during the off-peak on the Marston Vale Line from our May 2010 timetable.

"We will be retaining the two carriage service for the peak school service during weekday mornings. We have consulted widely on the proposed changes and following representations from the Rail User Group, Community Rail Partnership and Passenger Focus, are now taking another look at the proposal.

"To this end we will shortly be carrying out further passenger counts so we can assess the train capacity that we need."


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