Commuters fed-up with overcrowding are celebrating following the announcement that extra carriages will be provided on trains.

A partnership between the transport planning authority, Northern Spirit and Metro has resulted in funding of £3.4m from the Strategic Rail Authority.

By the time the summer 2000 timetable is unveiled, 11 extra carriages will be in place on lines in West Yorkshire.

And eight more carriages are expected on Wharfedale and Airedale lines the following year.

This follows a £120 million investment by Northern Spirit to install 16 new electric trains on the Airedale and Wharfedale lines by December, with the new three-carriage trains increasing seating capacity from 240 on current rolling stock to 260.

Jim Flood - pictured - of Shipley Labour Party, spent a morning rush hour at Saltaire station collecting signatures for a petition demanding extra carriages - which he had planned to send to the Government's Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA).

He says: "I'm sure all the people who signed this petition will be delighted that it has been overtaken by events.

"This is a great day for commuters, a great leap forward for rail travel and, dare I say it, a great victory for common sense."

Nigel Patterson, managing director of Northern Spirit, said it was an excellent result for customers who would have more seats available on a daily basis.

"We appreciate our customers have been looking for more seats to be provided at peak times and we are bringing the extra carriages on stream as quickly as we can," he said.

Commuter John Manley travels daily on the Skipton-Bradford line at rush hour.

He says: "At long last Northern Spirit is showing signs of actually planning. I was horrified when it said it was only planning to replace three carriage trains with more three-carriage trains. This is great news."

Councillor Mick Lyons, chairman of the West Yorkshire passenger Transport Authority, says: "It is good news for West Yorkshire's integrated transport policy as we will be able to attract more people out of their cars."

And Derrick Joanes, secretary of Wharfedale Rail Users Group, said he was pleased the bid had been successful and that the news had been made official. "I think that it's very much needed because of overcrowding," he said..

"Things are getting worse as the number of passengers using services at peak times increases by ten per cent per annum. I hope further initiatives will be made in the future."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.