The survey published on Friday by the Strategic Rail Authority(SRA) called for immediate action to improve capacity after it revealed that commuter overcrowding was getting worse.

The figures show the urgent need to increase capacity

Mike Grant, SRA chief

The authority has asked all five companies - Connex South Central, First Great Eastern, Silverlink, South West Trains and Thameslink - to produce action plans to tackle the problem.

The number of people travelling into London by train each morning was now nearly 467,000 - the highest level since the late 1980s, the authority said.

Rail commuter numbers have continued to rise despite predictions of a dip due to the post-Hatfield crash disruption, it said.

"The figures show the urgent need to increase capacity," said SRA chief executive Mike Grant.

Overcrowding breaches (AM and PM rush hour)

Silverlink - 6.6% South West Trains - 4.9% Connex South Central - 4.7% First Great Eastern - 4.1% Thameslink - 3.6% Source: SRA

"The figures also demonstrate that predictions of passengers after Hatfield were simply wrong - there is a strong and continuing growth trend."

He said there was a need to press manufacturers to deliver more trains as soon as possible, and to ensure train operating companies and Railtrack "work together to run them reliably".

The SRA statistics showed that an additional 11,630 people were travelling into London each morning during the rush-hour - an increase of 2.6% since autumn 1999.

The survey, conducted late last year and early this year, covered 10 train companies which run commuter services into London.

Companies are deemed to have exceeded overcrowding thresholds if they are 4.5% in excess of a specified capacity in either the morning or evening peak or 3% in excess across both peaks.