REPORTER Dale Haslam continues his regular column about his daily train commute in and out of Bolton.

WHEN reading about a new train boss on my way to work on Friday, I almost fell out of my seat (at least I might have done if a seat was available).

Charles Horton, head honcho at Govia Thameslink, which will soon run services into London from places like Cambridge and Southampton, announced he wanted to make it easier to stand on trains.

No, you did not misread that.

As well as experiencing the daily morning rush hour journey to Bolton, when you are lucky to get a seat if you board from Chorley onwards, I have also had the misfortune of travelling on the routes Govia will service, and it is just as stressful, if not more so.

Granted, Mr Horton has promised to increase rush-hour seats but, he added: “It doesn’t mean I can promise no one will ever stand on trains into Central London.

“What I can promise is that the trains will be more comfortable to stand up in.”

While his comments were perhaps unwise, I am not blaming Mr Horton or rail firms for severe overcrowding on commuter lines across the UK.

The truth is, it is down to too many organisations being involved (the Government, regulators, rail firms, train manufacturers and more besides).

Also, the franchise system train firms only plan for the medium term: Why would they order the production of more carriages in 20 years when they might not be running that route then?

The Government is doing a lot to bring in more seats but they need to redouble their efforts if they are to stop passengers abandoning the train for the car.

I was on a severely overcrowded train between Manchester and Bolton last weekend and heard a fellow passenger comment on the hundreds of people on board: “That’s a lot of ticket revenue.”

Maybe the powers that be will heed this warning when that income starts to dry up.