Christian Wolmar

Richard Bowker has done a sterling job in pulling the Strategic Rail Authority together, but he remains rooted in the contract culture of the 1990s - which, argues CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, is being discredited by evidence both from within Britain and across Europe. We are so often bogged down in the depressing details of our dysfunctional railway that it is sometimes essential to take a step back and look at the recent ...

When will the privatised railway ever learn from its mistakes? In the wake of the Special Purpose Vehicles concept, the SRA’s latest cumbersome buzz phrase is ‘Enhancement Facilitation Agreements’. An exasperated CHRISTIAN WOLMAR asks: Why do things have to be so complicated? Sorry, sorry, sorry. This is going to be a rant. I apologise in advance but sometimes the madness of the whole situation on the railways gets to me. There ...

The battle for London's underground is almost over. Five years ago, the government drew up plans for a massive investment programme, the Public Private Partnership, to renovate the crumbling Tube system. BBC Radio Five Live Report investigates. Christian Wolmar presented Down the Tube on Five Live Report at 12:00 GMT on Sunday 3 November 2002. It seems "a marriage made in heaven", with billions of pounds being invested to improve the lot ...