Despite the highly publicised appointment of a new Chairman, Railtrack is effectively a spent force, and there’s no point either trying to revive it by financial force-feeding or badgering it with enforcement orders it cannot possibly meet. What is needed, contends CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, is a root-and-branch re-examination of the structure of the industry by the [...]
Archive of May, 2001
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Twenty-year franchises are one of the centrepieces of the refranchising process, based on the belief that such a long contract period will encourage operators to invest. Yet the argument contains a fundamental flaw. Why should TOCs invest, asks CHRISTIAN WOLMAR when they don’t own the trains, track or stations - and can make their exit [...]
After all the navel-gazing of the past six months, it’s time to raise our sights and think big - and they don’t come much bigger than Central Railway’s proposed £6bn freight artery from the North to the Channel Tunnel and the Continent. Despite its disastrous start five years ago, CHRISTIAN WOLMAR believes this is one [...]
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