Overcrowded misery train services have been revealed by the government – but Southeastern is not on their ‘worst list.’

The focus was on city link trains but not urban ones like Southeastern, which serves Dartford and Gravesend.

The survey, using a complex set of measures, was carried out in 2014. It ranked the 10 busiest services, with First Great Western and TransPennine Express leading the field with overcrowded journeys.

Commuters from UK cities into London suffered the most unbearable overcrowding, followed by Manchester, Leicester, Leeds and Birmingham. Some 139,000 people had to stand on trains from cities arriving into the capital during the morning peak on a typical day.

Compounding the problem are the millions of journeys into London being run by Southeastern, whose passengers from Kent towns are equally experiencing intolerable overcrowding – despite pleas by the company for the government to provide more trains.

It is a situation the company warns is likely to get worse.

A Southeastern spokesman told the Messenger: “Our services are getting more and more crowded.

“We have received no new rolling stock since 2009. We’re increasingly close to the point where it will rapidly rise as we’re predicting 7.4 million more journeys on our network by 2017/18.

“We have submitted proposals to government for more rolling stock. The Department for Transport is reviewing our proposal and we are awaiting a decision.”

A spokesman for Dartford Rail Travellers’ Association, Phil Rogers, said: “Southeastern are running at a limit to their capabilities and, if there’s a fault on the line, the next train gets even more overcrowded. The company have been running the line since 2006.”

Rail minister Claire Perry said: “The government has renewed its commitment to provide more seats, more services.”