When Peter Hendy, the chairman of Network Rail, produced his review into railway overspending two years ago, he blithely recommended that the company could generate £1.8bn by disposing of non-railway assets. At the time, I wrote that this was a bit of smoke and mirrors since by selling off assets that were earning a rate of return, it would be simply foregoing a future revenue stream in return for...

One of the great mysteries of the current structure of the railways is why does every piece of work, whether undertaken by train operators, Network Rail or the engineering companies cost so much. Network Rail quotes for schemes are sometimes a factor of ten more than might be expected and even the most minor routine job seems to be far higher than comparable work in other industries. Of course,...

With Labour trying to work out its plans for renationalisation and the current system in a state of uncertainty given the problems with franchising and Network Rail’s addiction to overspending and the loss of its chief executive, there is currently much debate about the structure of the railways. Leaving aside the pros and cons of nationalisation which are the subject of furious debate, there is one point on which...