Plans to ease overcrowding on trains on local routes – including the Airedale line between Skipton and West Yorkshire – were dealt a blow as it emerged extra carriages will not be delivered to operators as promised.

Two years ago, the Government pledged an extra 1,300 train carriages across the country, of which 647 have either been brought in or are on order. Now the rest of that order has been “paused” after the Department for Transport (DfT) was ordered to slash £683 million from its budget by the end of March.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond ordered “an urgent reappraisal” of the Govern-ment’s entire train carriage procurement programme as part of £6.2 billion of overall savings. Of the 1,300 carriages, Northern Rail, which operates local and inter-urban services, was due to receive 106. Just 18 have been delivered or ordered.

A DfT spokesman said: “We will not be going forward with any carriages not already ordered during 2010-11. We will be announcing what happens after 2011 in due course.”

Responding to the announcement, transport representatives highlighted the urgent need for extra carriages on the region’s railways.

James Vasey, chairman of Bradford Rail Users Group, said: “We can understand that we are in tight financial circumstances, but rail usage on the Airedale line has increased by 80 per cent since privatisation with extreme rush-hour crowding.

“We will have to try to convince the Secretary of State additional carriages are needed.”

Tim Calow, chairman of the Aire Valley Rail Users Group, said: “It’s not a matter of having extra carriages to cope with further growth in passenger numbers, it’s extra carriages to cope with the passengers that are already travelling. We are in the position where the fullest train leaving Leeds doesn’t have room for all the passengers to stand on it.”

A spokesman for Northern Rail said: “Northern has attracted 34 per cent more passengers in the last five years and demand for rail travel in the North of England continues to grow. Continued investment in the local network is needed to improve rail services across the North.”