8 NEWS

COMMUTERS on packed trainshave long complained of beingtreated like cattle — but if onlythat were true.It has been revealed that

some passengers are beingprovided with less space thanthe minimum acceptable forlivestock transportation. Thegovernment has assumed thata non-seated train passengeroccupies 0.5m x 0.5m (0.25m2)of floor area — around the sizeof a sofa cushion.About 1,800 new train car-

riages for commuter services inLondon and the southeast areto be built on the basis that fourpeople can squeeze into everysquaremetre of standing space.

European Union animalwelfare rules state that calvesand adult goats must have anarea of at least 0.3m2 whenbeing transported and unshornsheep weighing less than 55kgshould have 0.3m2-0.4m2.“Passengers have often said

that even livestock are treatedbetter than this and now wehave the proof,” said StephenJoseph, chief executive of theCampaign for Better Transport.“Unlike livestock, people are

being charged thousands ofpounds a year for this.”The new rules on space

come just days after passengerswere told that regulated railfares — season tickets and off-peak intercity tickets — willincrease by an average of 4.1%in January.

Meanwhile, an analysis ofdata held by the Office of RailRegulation has identified theworst performing train com-panies. It shows that in 2012-13some 18,100 (16.4%) of Virginservices on the West Coastmain line were 10 minutes ormore late and 1,560 services(3.2%) on the East Coast net-work were late by between halfan hour and two hours.The most overcrowded train

in the country is the 7.44amHenley-on-Thames to LondonPaddington service whichcarries 84% more passengersthan it was designed for.The rules concerning the

allocation of space to passen-gers will only add to the overallmisery of train users.Most train franchises allo-

cate 0.45m2 per standing pas-senger. But government docu-ments detailing the specifica-

tion of 1,140 new carriages forthe Thameslink network,which runs north to southacross London, reveals thateach carriage’s capacity will becalculated on the basis of0.25m2. The trains are due tocome into service in 2016.The smaller area also applies

to the procurement of 600carriages for London’s newCrossrail and is likely to be usedfor new trains on the Essex

Thameside network as well.Joseph has accused the

government of attempting toconceal the real state of over-crowding on Britain’s trains.“This is a way in which

government can massage theperformance of the railway so itlooks better than it actually isor feels to the average crushedcommuter,” he said.Maria Eagle, the shadow

transport secretary, said that if

Labour wins the next electionshe will order a review of howminimum passenger space ontrains is calculated.South West Trains is the

only operator to use the 0.25m2

allocation which applies to itssuburban services in Londonand the southeast.The company said it operates

the busiest franchise in theUK, carrying almost 210mpassengers each year, and

consequently “our rolling stockis designed to carry morepassengers than might be thecase for other rail franchises”.The Department for Trans-

port said: “The standingmeasurement of four passen-gers per square metre istypically used for metro-likecommuter services, wherepassengers are travelling shortdistances and the train interioris designed for standing.”

Cattle class

0.45m2 0.25m2up to0.4m2

up to0.4m2

up to0.7m2

Standing commuternewstandard

existingstandard

Sheep* Goat** Calf***

Source: Defra*Unshorn sheep less than 55kg **35kg to 55kg ***110kg

THEY areman’s best friendsbut the waywe live our livesnowmay be leavingmanydogs feeling depressed, newresearch suggests.According to a television

documentary presented byMark Evans, the former chiefvet at the RSPCA, an estimatedone in four of Britain’s 8m dogsbecomes deeply unhappy

when left home alone. Theproblem is exacerbated inhouseholds where people areworking longer hours or wherean owner has recentlyreturned to the workplace.Home Alone Dogs, a

Channel 4 documentary due tobe shown later this year,filmed dogs’ behaviour whentheir owners went out.“For some dogs the

consequences can be shocking,

including pacing and spinningon the spot. Others were seenbarking and howling for longperiods, defecating and evenself-harming,” say theprogrammemakers.Dr Nicola Rooney, of the

veterinary school at theUniversity of Bristol, hasconducted research intocanine behaviour. She said thelevel of stress hormones insome dogs could be high even

when the animals appeared tobe content.“There are dogs who are

quiet, but when you look attheir physiological stress theyare affected as well,” she said.Dr John Bradshaw, author

of a bestselling book InDefence of Dogs, has beenfilmed for the documentaryhelping owners to train theirpets to overcome their anxiety.“Dogs have a very powerful

link to humans . . . You cantrain a dog to do all sorts ofthings and understand ourgestures . . . andwe expect toturn all that off by saying,‘We’re going out — relax, havea kip, chew a bone, we’ll beback soon.’ They don’tunderstand that,” he said.Bradshaw advises the

owners of pets suffering fromseparation anxiety gradually tobuild up the length of time

that they spend away fromtheir dog.Leela Jayapal, a GP, and her

partner Justin Eade used acanine daycare centre to helpFlake, their labrador puppy,copewith their absence. Theanimal would bark, yelp andurinate when they went outbut now Flake joins 30 otherpets at Halo Dogs, a caninecentre in north London.“Now it’s a seriously rare

occurrence that she’s alone,”said Jayapal.Rooney said canine anxiety

needed to be handled carefully:“We don’t want owners to say,‘My dog is suffering but I’mworking long hours and can’tdo anything about it’, so thatlots of dogs get dumped inrehoming centres. There arestrategies that can be used.”

Additional reporting:Edward Nickell

Sian Griffiths

Modern life leaves home-alone dogs feeling down

MarkHookhamTransport Correspondent

Commuters on some lines are finding they have less space to move than sheep and other livestock

Fleeced:we get lessroom thansheep onthe train

ALAMY/RICHARD STANTON