NEW figures highlighting an increased number of rail passengers using the Portsmouth-to-Waterloo line have brought fears that the line's success could lead to a nightmare for rail users.

Members of the Portsmouth-to-Waterloo Rail-Users Group were told last week that journeys to and from Petersfield station alone topped the one million mark last year for the first time.

The figures for journeys to and from the station between August 2004 and July this year were 1,025,233 – up more than five per cent on the previous year and represented an amazing 52,445 more journeys beginning or ending at Petersfield Station.

There was also a significant rise in the number of journeys from Liphook Railway Station, up from 386,543 in 2003 to 2004 to 438,009 last year. The figures for Haslemere were not available.

The chairman of the Rail Users' Group, Brian Keefe, told the meeting that the rise was "a significant issue".

"The line is in danger of being so successful it will be overcrowded," he said.

Dr John Tough, a transport expert by profession and transport representative on Bramshott and Liphook parish council, told The Herald that one of the greatest problems facing Liphook rail users was the fact that none of the fast trains stopped there during the rush hour.

This means that many are travelling to either Haslemere or Petersfield to catch fast trains.

"We only get the semi-fast trains, so we only get half the number of trains that Petersfield has and the number of passengers using Liphook station is growing at the same speed."

He said all peak-period trains were already full length and so there was no scope to increase capacity, but full-length trains created their own problems at Liphook.

"They are too long for the station platform and so only half the train can open for passengers. A large number of people get on to the fifth carriage and there is a delay while they disperse throughout the train."

Dr Tough told The Herald: "I think South West Trains needs to look very carefully at traffic on this line. We have two trains on this line, increased to six at peak times, and really there ought to be room to increase the number of trains."

He said he believed the need for fast trains was "rather exaggerated".

"They link with the sailings to the Isle of Wight and it would be difficult to interfere with them, but I don't see why they should be sacrosanct. They could serve other stations as well and spread the load, it would help considerably."

Mr Keefe warned fellow rail-users at the recent meeting: "If the trend of the journey figures follows for the next five or six years, it would create great difficulty."

In the next few years, he warned that the number of passengers using Petersfield station could double. This would create vast problems of overcrowding on the trains.

Mr Keefe said there would be a slight alleviation of the problem when Continental trains were moved from Waterloo to a new depot, but this was not planned for several years and would only create space for two or three more trains.

It was not possible, he said, to put more trains into service on the line because of the bottleneck created outside Waterloo station. "Already your train has to wait outside the station if you lose your slot to get into the platform," he said.

Neither was adding more carriages to trains a possibility, Mr Keefe told

The Herald: "Although Petersfield can cope with the longer trains, Liphook and Liss cannot because the platforms are not long enough."

Instead, Mr Keefe has suggested that South West Trains should give commuters a greater incentive to travel earlier and make use of empty seats.

"In the mornings and evenings, the trains are full with people going to and from work – in fact, from 6-50 am the commuter trains are packed."

"I am suggesting that South West Trains make greater use of the quieter trains from around 5 am to 6-30 am and introduce a cheaper fare for those trains."

Mr Keefe believed that a return to the old-style "worker's return" cheaper train fare would not only encourage use of seats currently empty, but also help young people on lower salaries, who have to work in London and were currently paying around £3,500 for a season ticket.

He stressed the importance of looking at ways of linking public transport to the station.

"The Portsmouth-to-Waterloo line is a success story," he warned, "but in the end, because there is only one line and very few places to pass, it will reach saturation."