Extra capacity is extra capacity and should be welcomed, wherever it comes from – but it would not kill the Government to be a bit more honest in its announcements.

Spin was neither invented in the Blair years, and nor did it die with its passing; we get it each and every day. The latest announcement of extra carriages on West Yorkshire routes falls into this category, unfortunately – however good the actual news is, the DfT couldn’t avoid a bit of ‘news management’.

So, despite the huge amounts of detail the announcement did include, it didn’t mention where these new carriages are coming from, or when they were built (two decades ago – which makes talk of ‘investment’ sound slightly hollow). Thus, outside of the trade press, no national or local news reports mentioned the carriages’ age.

It is not a huge issue, and, again, more seats are always to be welcomed – but why not just be open and honest from the start?