Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on (a) the peak seat capacity (b) demand for rail services between Reading to London Paddington during each peak morning hour.

With regard to the peak seat capacity for rail services between Reading to London Paddington, this is commercially confidential information.

We do not hold information on the demand for rail services specifically between Reading to London Paddington. This is because as most services into Paddington call at Reading, it is difficult to separate passenger numbers between those who are on services prior to arriving at Reading travelling to Paddington; those who are travelling to intermediate stations from Reading; those who change at Reading from other start points; and those travelling between Reading and Paddington.

Official figures showing the numbers of passengers travelling on trains throughout the day in several major cities can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/466412/rail-passengers-crowding-2014.pdf. For Paddington station in 2015, the proportion of standard class passengers that are above the capacity on their service at its busiest point is a total of 10.4%.