Christian Says
Jul 8th 2014
Jul 8th 2014
Crazy merry go round goes on
The news that Network Rail is paying a £53.1m fine for underperformance on punctuality highlights, yet again, the daft nature of the industry structure and the way the regulatory regime was set up for a privatised Railtrack, not a publicly-owned Network Rail.
The attempts by the ORR and the government to soften the blow do nothing to hide the fact that the whole process is plain daft. The BBC was told over the weekend that some of the money - an unspecified amount - would go towards paying for wi-fi on trains. Now I reckon wi-fi is like toilets and lighting, ...
Rail 750: still questions over Ladbroke Grove
I pass the site of the Ladbroke Grove train crash frequently on my cycle ride to watch QPR and every time I think of the terrible scene there on the night of the disaster which I observed from the roof of a nearby warehouse where TV interviews were being conducted. I have since written numerous articles on the disaster and a chapter in my book Broken Rails also covered the ...Sides becoming more entrenched over HS2
The only strange aspect of the growing controversy over HS2 is that it has taken so long to come to the boil. The scheme is suffering from the way it was conceived. In reality the debate that is happening now should have taken place four years ago when Lord Adonis commissioned HS2 Ltd to produce a report into the idea. That was the key error. It looked as if the ...July 8th, 2014
Tour de France does little for the cycling cause
As Le Grand Départ turns into Le Grand Au Revoir and the Tour de France cyclists and their huge accompanying caravan return to France, the predictable self-congratulation from politicians and sporting organisations has begun. They claim that the Tour will provide a fantastic boost for cycling in the UK that will be felt for years.
Sadly ...
July 4th, 2014
Labour compromise on franchises will please no one
Reports today suggest Labour is set to announce that it will allow parts of the rail network to come back into public ownership. But it seems Labour, which has dismissed the story as "pure speculation", will only allow a recreated British Rail to bid for franchises rather than taking them all over as they run out.
The leadership's fear of a more radical solution has been apparent for some time and ...
