High speed could be expensive distraction from existing railway
Towards the end of this month, we will get the government's White Paper based on the work by the HS2 team which will set out ...
Highway engineers crash out
If you were hoping to come to a meeting tonight at Arup's offices to hear me speak about rail privatisation to the London Branch of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, you will be disappointed. The meeting has been cancelled for reasons that reveal all too well why Highway engineers frequently create street environments that are cluttered, ugly and not fit for purpose. Unlike the implication in the email sent out by the organisers, the cancellation had nothing to do with me. As I always do, I had asked if could bring a few books to sell to the audience. At first I was told 'we don't mind either way' but then some committee members apparently thought that such activity would breach their charitable status because it was 'commercial'. Quite apart from that being utter nonsense - I have sold books at dozens of meetings in village halls and for all kinds of organisations over the years and in any case they are offered at huge discounts - it demonstrates the kind of bureaucratic mind which appears incapable of seeing a ...
Rail 638: No dead, no injured, too much fuss about Eurostar
Posted under Rail Magazine
It could have been a lot worse for the 152 passengers and crew when ice led to an engine failure. Indeed, they were lucky to escape alive but strangely the media coverage of the report into the incident was relatively muted - a few interviews with the heroic crew and a bit of technical explanation, but with only very minor injuries and no dead, the matter was soon forgotten. That, of course, was not the Eurostar pre Christmas breakdowns but the ...
Oxford Street needs a radical rethink, not tinkering
Posted under Transport Times
Walking in a Soho street on a January Saturday night with my partner and a couple of friends, I was stopped by a policeman: ‘Please walk on the pavement' he barked at me. I was in no mood to obey. Lisle Street, which runs parallel to Chinatown's main drag, Gerrard Street, has tiny pavements and little traffic. There were hundreds of pedestrians and virtually no cars. In any case, I had got used to walking in streets as they were ...
TSSA Journal
Rail Magazine
Rail 638: No dead, no injured, too much fuss about Eurostar
It could have been a lot worse for the 152 passengers and crew when ice led to an engine failure. Indeed, they were lucky to ...
Rail Magazine
Rail 637: Heathrow and High Speed Rail are not compatible
If, as has been suggested to me, the minimum cost of a high speed line between London and Scotland will be in the order of ...
Yorkshire Post
Scrapping new trains may not be bad news
These are strange times on the railways. On the one hand, there is plenty of investment, with promise of more to come. On the other, ...
Transport Times
Oxford Street needs a radical rethink, not tinkering
Walking in a Soho street on a January Saturday night with my partner and a couple of friends, I was stopped by a policeman: ‘Please ...
TSSA Journal
Franchise muddle persists
The day after Lord Adonis suggested that franchises might be as long as 22 years, he threatened First Capital Connect with taking away its contract ...
RECENT POSTS
- High speed could be expensive distraction from existing railway
- Rail 638: No dead, no injured, too much fuss about Eurostar
- Rail 637: Heathrow and High Speed Rail are not compatible
- Highway engineers crash out
- Scrapping new trains may not be bad news
- Oxford Street needs a radical rethink, not tinkering
- Tories stick to the old politics
- Belgian crash highlights safety improvements
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adonis atoc aviation Boris Johnson breakdown british rail british railway british railways broken rails charles tyson civil servant environment eurostar franchises franchising geoff hoon gordon brown Heathrow high speed line high speed rail history of britain London london transport london underground metropolitan railway national express Network Rail operators pedestrianisation PPP public private partnership rail history rail privatisation railtrack railway history recession southern railway stations steve robson strategic rail authority tim o'toole train operators transport for london Underground underground railwayRECENT COMMENTS
- nick sloan:The solution is to reintroduce
- RapidAssistant:Well yes and no really - it's
- Ian Raymond:Gotcha Rapid, I sort of did ta
- RapidAssistant:Ian - you missed my point - th
- Dan:Ian - I'm with you on this - a