GREATER Manchester business leaders have joined forces with their London counterparts to protest over delays in solving overcrowding on Virgin's tilting Pendolino trains to London.

The Greater Manchester Chamber has joined forces with the London Chamber of Commerce and written to Transport secretary Ruth Kelly urging her to reconsider her department's rejection of Virgin's proposals to add 100 extra seats to every Pendolino train on the West Coast Main Line by 2010.

Virgin wanted a two-year extension to its franchise, which is due to run out in 2012, in return for managing the project, which also involves building a complete new train to replace the one wrecked in last year's Cumbrian crash and lengthening platforms at some stations along the route.

But the Department for Transport said that would not be value for money and has instead put the work out to tender, asking for the first new carriages to be supplied after 2012.

Virgin says that if it had the job, it could start introducing the carriages in 2010.

President

In his letter to Department for Transport David McKeith, president of Greater Manchester Chamber says: "More than a third of the line's 25 million passengers a year are business travellers, who use the peak time services which are most likely to be over-crowded.

"We share the operator's concerns that the DfT's decision could lead to passengers being forced to stand on 15 per cent of services on the West Coast main line by 2012. This means a loss of productivity for businesses whose staff are unable to work en route."

Virgin welcomed the Chambers' support. A spokesman said: "Adding the extra carriages is much less straightforward than people think. We have not decided whether to bid for that contract but if it goes to a third party, it will make things a lot more complicated."