New figures just released (haven't read them all yet)

But have spotted in section 5.3 that Bristol has highest PiXC (passengers in excess of capacity)

Rather proves Bristol rail in peaks is struggling, and so far this year not really done anything about transferring in extra stock

section 4.2 says peak passenger numbers at Paddington grew 6% in a year, 7% increase in off peak in a year

Section 5.4 has the busiest services (into cities when surveyed, so could excludes things like Portsmouth-Cardiff when 2coach set is used), South West trains has 4 of 10.   The third busiest nationally is a Bridgend to Rhymney train !

Section 6 says 13% of long distance services are in excess of capacity

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-passenger-numbers-and-crowding-on-weekdays-in-major-cities-in-england-and-wales-2025/rail-passenger-numbers-and-crowding-on-weekdays-in-major-cities-in-england-and-wales-2025

 
Thanks John D.

One really striking feature of the figures (apart from the change in the list of stations in 2017) is how many passengers arrive in Reading. From 2017 (when it first appears) to the pandemic, it is third behind Birmingham (first) and Manchester (second) in the number of arrivals, but after the pandemic it overtook Manchester and even has more arrivals at peak times than Birmingham in 2025.

Was the completion of the final phase of the current Manchester tram system in 2020 partly responsible?

 

 
Elizabeth Line?

 

But Reading was no.3 in 2017, five years before the Elizabeth Line opened. These figures are also for arrivals, so the new services replaced a previous GWR service from places that also had direct services.

 
One wonders how much of this additional overcrowding is caused by increased numbers of trains being short formed/formed of smaller trains?

Not sure if that's as big an issue elsewhere as it is for GWR?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/chance-of-getting-seat-on-london-commuter-train-is-at-all-time-low/ar-AA28SUWf?ocid=socialshare

 
It is perhaps encouraging to note that the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, has herself experienced some degree of overcrowding, on GWR trains between Swindon and London Paddington:

 
Used to commute Reading to London up until 2009 and I'm pretty sure that it's a lot better now - pre-Electrification in the morning rush hour you often had to wait for up to three HST's to come through the station before you were actually able to fit on one (zero chance of getting a seat). At one point, a first class season ticket wasn't that much more expensive than second (let's say £150 a month), so quite a lot of people started buying a first class ticket to get a seat, until first was also jammed. Apparently some rather influential people complained, at which point the (unregulated) first class season ticket was jacked up and the riff-raff headed back to second.

Oh yes, and during electrification, I seem to remember the reliability getting so bad that we actually got a discount on a number of month's tickets. And remember, that was before smart phones, so the best you could do for amusement as you sat on the floor was to read your book or call your mates, or if you weere important you might send a few emails on your Blackberry. 

Finally, the Thames Valley stoppers were 3-car only for much of the day and my recollection is that they might even have been hourly to the smaller stations like Burnham.