A RAIL boss has told how he saw a woman faint on board a packed North-East train as concerns grow over overcrowding.

Alistair Gordon, UK chief executive of Keolis, which operates TransPennine Express (TPE) with First Group, said the country was experiencing a chronic shortage of trains, with the company unable to find extra carriages for its diesel services.

Mr Gordon said the line connecting Newcastle with Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool as so busy that he recently saw a woman faint on board.

“Try getting on a train?.?.?.?and some days you just can’t. There is not enough diesel rolling stock in the country."

It is feared the overcrowding could get worse when nine of the company's trains are handed to Chiltern Railways next year after it struck a deal with the leasing company which owns them.

Rail union RMT said the loss of the trains from TPE's fleet of 70 was a "shocking indictment" of Government policies.

Figures show the TPE franchise has become one of the most overcrowded in the country, after doubling passenger numbers in a decade to 26 million a year.

One of the worst routes is the 6.30am from Manchester Airport to Middlesbrough, which is 66 per cent over capacity.

TransPennine leased the nine Class 170 trains for the duration of its franchise, which is due to end in February 2016.

But Chiltern was able to offer a longer term leasing deal to the owners, Porterbrook.

Commenting on the deal, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It is a shocking indictment of both this Government’s policies and two decades of privatisation that one of the most crowded franchises on the rail system is losing a large chunk of its fleet to routes that can offer the leasing company more money and a longer-term deal.

"The internal rolling stock merry-go-round is robbing trains from the North to aid the South while the clapped-out, lashed-up Pacers are also being kept on indefinitely as part of the new Northern franchise.

"What a disgraceful way to treat passengers who are paying through the nose to ride these highly-profitable services."

Earlier this year, TPE took delivery of ten new four-coach trains which offered an extra 90,000 extra seats every week.

A company spokesman said the discussions with the Department for Transport on the extension of its contract to 2016 would include talks on the need to protect the extra capacity.

The Northern Echo has launched the Right Lines campaign to push for better rail services in the region.