Rail 464: Bowker’s ‘Mission: Impossible’ – solving the capacity conundrum
SRA Chairman Richard Bowker is in an impossible position, at the mercy of forces beyond his control, argues CHRISTIAN WOLMAR - typified by his helplessness in the face of the network’s capacity problems.
The impossibility of being Richard Bowker was highlighted by the trio of announcements that the Strategic Rail Authority made on June 16. This is the first bunch of what promises to be a series of bad news items ...
Housing barrier to euro
The announcement on the Euro has highlighted two related aspects of housing policy that are rarely brought to the public’s attention – the British obsession with home ownership and our peculiar mortgage system based on variable rates. According to Gordon Brown’s mega-sized assessment of the famous five conditions, the combination of these two factors has been one of the main barriers to Britain’s immediate entry into the Euro.
Even though most ...
Darling’s slow train finally goes off the rails
Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, is the colourless Blairite who was appointed by the Prime Minister to try to make us forget that transport is in a state of crisis. Until yesterday, he had largely succeeded, damping down any expectations that things were getting better and trying to keep his head as far as possible below the parapet.
But now Darling is set to be a marked man among rail passengers. ...
Rail 463: Figures expose fragility of Network Rail Experiment
These are bad times for the railway and they're going to get worse before they get better, warns Christian Wolmar after the latest torrent of negative news for the industry.
In the last week of May, the bad news for the railways poured out like ballast off the back of a hopper. First there were Network Rail's appalling figures and the following day the interim report on the Potters Bar crash. ...
53 not (yet) out
I have realised that this is not just about cricket. It's about life itself. My middle aged quest for a maiden century has made me learn about the character of my 53-year old soul and there is an awful lot at stake.
Having been coached all winter and learnt how to play strokes which previously I thought only Michael Vaughan could execute, I have built up a confidence I have never ...
