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Standing room only in northern England Tube cast-offs

Rail passengers in northern England face being packed into “high-density” carriages under new private franchises, rail union RMT warned yesterday.

Two key rail operations — Northern and TransPennine Express — are currently on offer to profiteers.

RMT said that clapped-out trains abandoned by London’s Tube network were being converted to operate on diesel instead of electricity and are to be transported north.

The ex-Tube trains offer greater capacity because they are designed for more standing passengers.

“Despite all the spin and bluster from Nick Clegg and his Tory puppet-masters, we now know that passengers across the northern rail routes are being set up to pay through the nose to travel in half the normally acceptable space in what amount to clapped-out and unsafe sardine cans,” said RMT general secretary Mick Cash.

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