Rail 636: Tory and Labour policies converging
Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, has done her homework and come up with a well-informed speech about the Tories plans for the railways. Given ...
It is only a few months away from the launch of the London cycle hire scheme, provided there are no delays - there is still no precise date, but only 'summer 2010'. I am desperate for the scheme to work, but I have severe doubts about it. Will the bikes be used, will they soon all end up in the Regents' Canal or Hampstead pond, will there be enough pick up points to make it worthwhile, will people find spaces in which to park them, will the management of the scheme be flexible enough to accommodate disproportionate flows and so on. It has by all accounts worked well in Paris, but there major improvements to the basic cycling infrastructure were made. It used to be perilous to cycle in the French capital, but a few years ago the mayor simply decreed that there would be cycle lanes along the boulevards, and these were installed with typical Gallic efficiency and little consultation. Here, making such changes is a laboured and endless process. Consultation is so often an excuse for inaction. However, not all ...
Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, has done her homework and come up with a well-informed speech about the Tories plans for the railways. Given to a political thinktank, Politeia, earlier this month, the speech contained nothing startlingly new but fleshed out details of Tory intentions if they are elected. The centrepiece was, of course, support for a north-south high speed line, about which more below, but there was also some elaboration of their ideas for the rest of the network. ...
As I write this column overlooking the street in Holloway where I live, an old man who lives opposite is taking his grandchild to school. They hop in to his Fiesta, and I know that in about ten minutes the grandfather, with whom I have exchanged friendly words but not yet names, will be back. Then after a cup of tea, he will pop out again to take his bull terrier for its matinal. I know, therefore, that he is fit ...
Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, has done her homework and come up with a well-informed speech about the Tories plans for the railways. Given ...
Eurostar has attracted a fantastic amount of criticism over the debacle in the run up to Christmas when five trains failed in quick succession in ...
Since this is the last column of the noughties, I thought it would be apposite to draw a few broad sweeping lines across the events ...
Network Rail produced another set of impressive sounding figures last month. Its interim (half-year) report shows that train performance has increased to under 7 per ...
A love affair with trains is like marriage to a serial philanderer. Just when things are going well, they let you down - again. Eurostar is ...
It was not the wrong sort of snow, but simply too much of it that appears to have caused the breakdown of five Eurostar and ...
How the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever.
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