Far be it from us to rain on a summer recess story that is providing journalists with work, (during a silly season that included a story about the health dangers of playing bagpipes) but…
Traingate, surely the worst of all the “gates”, is an odd concoction involving the leftwing Jeremy Corbyn, the billionaire Richard Branson, and a general desire to see a spat during the slow summer months.
There have been claims and counter claims and the story may rumble on, and to some extent that is all very good fun and more importantly an excuse to indulge in the great British pastime of making puns.
However, just for a moment let’s remember the point Mr Corbyn was actually trying to make, whether he did so with scrupulous immediate accuracy or not.
Many of our trains, on many routes, are overcrowded. The average level of rail overcrowding in the morning peak is now at 5% over capacity in major cities in England and Wales. That figure comes from the Department for Transport (DfT), not usually a hot bed of leftwing agitprop.
On many commuter routes the later you get on, the less chance you have of getting a seat until it becomes simply impossible. Finding a seat on a national mainline, as Mr Corbyn was travelling on, if you have not booked well in advance can also be difficult.
Once I was on a train from Cambridge to London that was so overcrowded I didn’t even realise the man next to me had actually fainted and was leaning on me through lack of consciousness not just space. Sadly I have no memory of the exact date so finding the CCTV footage to prove this will be hard but I can assure you it is the truth.
Let us not forget that capacity is one of the main reasons the Government has given for investing more than £50bn in HS2.
No matter what your take on traingate, nationalisation versus privatisation or Jeremy Corbyn in general, it seems as if we have forgotten that the point he was trying to make about overcrowding was indeed a fair one – even if it was not made in the best way.
As soon as the summer holidays come to an end, we will all no doubt be reminded.
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