Christian Wolmar

The railways' fear of central planning distorting market forces is to blame for the National Audit Office's trenchant criticism of the SRA on rolling stock policy, contends Christian Wolmar. There has always been something of a paradox over the word ‘strategic’ in the title of the Strategic Rail Authority. Strategic implies planning, taking a long view and determining priorities. But in its directions and guidance, the SRA has a specific remit ...

The Government's latest rail review is Treasury-inspired, and vague in both scope and aims. CHRISTIAN WOLMAR gives the Transport Secretary two cheers for recognising there's a problem, but wonders how such confusion can lead to a better railway. Trying to read the runes of the statement by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announcing a rail review would be easier if there were a coherent strategy and idea behind it. But dismiss that ...

Remember all that fuss last year about the Congestion charge? London was going to grind to a halt, children would be left on street corners to make their own way to school and the public transport system was going to seize up. It was all bunkum, as I predicted in an article on this page exactly a year ago, the day the scheme was introduced. The demonstrations of angry motorists simply ...

It seems like such a simple idea: provide all public transport users with information encompassing all the possible modes of transport. That is the aim of Transport Direct, which was supposed to be a one stop shop enabling the public to plan almost any journey directly and quickly within the UK. It was to be a joint venture between local authorities, central government, and the bus companies which, when the ...