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How to get the railways back on track
BARELY a day goes by without another nightmare rail tale. For the third Sunday running, Northern Rail cancelled dozens of scheduled services as new timetable disruptions persist. That’s the ‘new’ timetable introduced as long ago as May. Fares increases are about to be announced, while at the same time customer satisfaction goes the other way. New research has found the rail companies are now the least trusted out of 13...
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Evening Standard letters: Driverless cars would require unacceptable changes
Catherine Hutt, of Addison Lee, has fallen for the driverless-car hype put out by the tech companies . None of the technical hurdles has been overcome, as the death of a woman killed by a driverless car in Arizona in March shows, and there are massive legal, insurance, software, hardware and regulatory issues that remain to be...
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Don’t let Trump distract us from the basics
We must get back to basics. The madness of Brexit and the chaos in the Tory party, as well as the ignominy of hosting Donald Trump, risk distracting us from the issues on which we should really be focussing. A friend of mine, James Gleave, recently found a woman wandering around Bletchley Station in some distress. He asked if she was alright and clearly she was not. Her story...
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Rail 857: Is the Office of Rail and Road really necessary?
Is it time for another Wolmar question since ‘what is franchising for?’ will, I reckon, soon become redundant as the government chooses a different model. So how about ‘What is the Office of Road and Rail for?’. I am not, of course, questioning its safety role which it took over from the Health and Safety Executive a dozen years ago and has been very successful – and blessed with...
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Doubts over driverless cars in the lion’s den
I was worried that going to the autonomous vehicle exhibition in Stuttgart would be rather like an atheist walking into St Peter’s while the Pope was conducting a mass. There is something religious about the fervour with which adherents to the driverless credo practice their faith and promise us a new kingdom. Their proselytising has indeed convinced many. Politicians are jumping on the driverless bandwagon making outlandish statements like...
Latest headlines
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How to get the railways back on track
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Evening Standard letters: Driverless cars would require unacceptable changes
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Don’t let Trump distract us from the basics
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Rail 857: Is the Office of Rail and Road really necessary?
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Doubts over driverless cars in the lion’s den
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Rail 856: Rail industry struggles to find good news in Brexit
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Boris’s last escape?
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About Christian Wolmar
Christian Wolmar is an award winning writer and broadcaster specialising in transport and is the author of a series of books on railway history. In the autumn of 2012, he announced he is seeking the Labour candidacy for the 2016 London mayoral election. Read more >>
Eexcellent article showing that people are becoming more and more not less sceptical about driverless cars as they learn more about them theregister.co.uk/2018/08/17/…
