Rail commuters travelling at peak periods should expect to stand even if they have paid £5,000 for an annual season ticket, according to the head of railways at the Department for Transport.

Mike Mitchell was condemned by rail unions and passenger groups for saying that it was acceptable to stand for up to half an hour in peak periods. He said that it would be too expensive to provide seats for everyone and that commuters who did not want to stand should avoid the peak, which now extends from 6.30am to 10am on many lines.

The Government predicts that passenger numbers will increase by 30 per cent over the next decade, but it has no plans to increase significantly the number of trains on busy lines.

Giving evidence on January 8 to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, Dr Mitchell admitted that the railways were busier now than at any time since 1946, with more than 1.1 billion passengers carried last year. Dr Mitchell said: “If you are travelling a relatively short distance, I do not think that it is unacceptable to expect to stand in the peak.”

Asked by Richard Bacon, MP for Norfolk South, what he meant by a short distance, he said: “Perhaps half an hour.”

Mr Bacon then asked: “Standing for half an hour is acceptable even though you are paying your local train operating company £5,000 a year?” Dr Mitchell replied: “It has to be said that there are alternatives . . . if one travels off-peak.”

He added: “The cost of providing sufficient capacity to enable everyone to get a seat would expand the railway budget way beyond anything we have here.”

The DfT said that Dr Mitchell travelled to work either on foot or in standard class.

Tom Harris, the Rail Minister, supported Dr Mitchell yesterday. He said: “It’s not realistic that passengers get a seat for every journey.” He said that trains might be lengthened “in the long term”, but refused to give any date, and would not rule out further above-inflation fare increases.

Gerry Doherty, of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, said: “Dr Mitchell is arrogant and out of touch if he thinks it is acceptable for commuters not to get a seat when they are paying £5,000 a year to commute into London.

“It is his job to provide more trains and longer trains so commuters do not have to endure cattle-truck-like conditions to get to work. They are paying through the nose for a second-class service. The Department for Transport should be working towards a first-class service for everyone.”

Passenger Focus, the national watchdog, said: “It is not acceptable for passengers to pay vast amounts of money only to have to stand. More capacity must be provided.”

First Great Western, which operates between London and the West Country, has announced a £63 million refurbishment of its 125mph fleet, including leather seats in first class and power sockets at every seat.

The company said that it was creating an extra 8,000 seats a day on its services but admitted that most of the increase would come from squeezing more seats on to existing trains. The number of tables will be reduced by more than half and passengers will have less legroom.

First Great Western backed down yesterday in a dispute about overcrowding in the Bristol and Bath area, where passengers had planned to refuse to pay on Monday.

The company has agreed to bring six to eight carriages out of storage. However, it said that they would operate for a limited period.

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