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My Recent Writing
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Book review: Monisha Rajesh, Around the world in 80 trains
Monisha Rajesh wrote lovingly about the Indian railways in her previous book but this set her wondering whether the train journey had lost its allure elsewhere — for which there is a strong case to be made in Britain, at least. The constant outpouring of anger in the media about the horrors of modern travel seems to have captured the public mood: the delays, the cancellations, the overcrowding, the...
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Letter to The Times on Driverless cars
It is unclear where the push for driverless cars (News, Feb 6) is coming from. There is no public desire: surveys show a reluctance to use driverless cars, they will not solve congestion, and there are huge safety concerns, especially with regard to computer hacking. Trials in the US have stalled in the aftermath of the fatality in Arizona, and as the limitations of the technology, such as it...
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Rail 871: The Crossrail mystery – and how the USA does not understand rail
The awful year in 2018 endured by the railways might have been leavened somewhat had Crossrail opened on time. In reality, that was never going to happen. While working on my book, The Crossrail Story, over the first half of last year, I was frequently in the Crossrail offices in Canary Wharf and I could see that behind the promises that the scheme was ‘on time, on budget’, there...
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EU membership does not preclude rail renationalisation
Of the Tory privatisations visited upon the UK in recent decades, few arouse such intensity of feelings as that of the railways. A much-loved public institution now dogged by a reputation for exploitative and above-inflation price increases paired with poor service, commitments to renationalise the network offered an early emblem of what a Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn was to stand for. With...
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Rail 870: My letter to Keith Williams on what Rail Review should examine
Dear Keith, I wish you lots of luck in your endeavour to sort out Britain’s railways. There will be many obstacles placed in your way, not least by government, so you will have to be courageous enough to plough your own furrow. I will try to help by setting out a few principles and thoughts learnt over the past quarter of a century on writing about railways that...
Latest headlines
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Book review: Monisha Rajesh, Around the world in 80 trains
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Letter to The Times on Driverless cars
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Rail 871: The Crossrail mystery – and how the USA does not understand rail
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EU membership does not preclude rail renationalisation
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Rail 870: My letter to Keith Williams on what Rail Review should examine
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My speech on driverless cars at the Transportation Research Board, Washington DC, 15/1/19
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Rail 869: The railway’s annus horribilis
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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. He was Labour's candidate for the 2016 Richmond Park & North Kingston by-election and also ran to be Labour's candidate in the last London mayoral election. Read more >>
RT @ivorgaber Oh please not another Brexit Vox Pop from a Leave-supporting constituency on @BBCWorldTonight - balanced by a Vox Pop from a Remain supporting constituency? No chance, despite @YouGov poll tonight.showing Remain 59% May deal 41%. This is an ongoing problem on @BBCNews
