A MULTI-MILLION pound train fleet destined for one of the North-East's busiest routes has come in for fierce criticism before it has even entered service.

Passenger groups have attacked the £250m Desiro fleet saying the trains are not long enough and do not have enough seats.

They said the 56 trains, being introduced by FGK on the TransPennine Express route, would do nothing to ease congestion, particularly at peak periods.

FGK, a consortium of First Group and Keolis which takes over next year, announced the introduction of the new fleet on winning the franchise and said it would cut journey times by up to ten minutes.

Fran Critchley, deputy secretary of the North-East Railway Passengers Committee, said: "Our problem is that the new trains are just not long enough and we are going to see some chronic overcrowding continuing."

Ms Critchley said there needed to be more than 15 first class seats on each train.

FGK, which takes over the franchise from February, plans to use Arriva Trains Northern class 158 trains until next December.

The new trains will enter service in the summer of 2005 and be fully rolled out by the end of 2006.

FGK spokesman Robin Etherington said the new trains would be a minimum of three coaches, but they hoped to couple some together to make six car formations at peak times.

From next December, Sunderland will no longer be part of the new TransPennine network in a move which has been prompted by the Strategic Rail Authority.

This will mean passengers from the city will have to travel from Newcastle in order to get to destinations such as Liverpool and Manchester airport.

However, FGK said it would be doubling the number of trains from Newcastle to Manchester Airport to run almost hourly and there would also be more services from Middlesbrough to the North-West.