Christian Wolmar

The Rail Review has given civil servants the whip-hand in determining the way our railway is run - but, claims CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, the signs are they are simply not up to it. It’s an irony that the railways currently endure a greater deal of state interference than they did when they were nationalised. As Nigel Harris, in his Comment in the last issue pointed out, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling had said ...

The project to build the Channel Tunnel Rail Link has enjoyed mixed fortunes and could be termed as either a success or a failure depending on whether it is looked at from an engineering or a financial point of view. Indeed, its financial troubles have tended to overshadow a superb engineering achievement built under difficult circumstances. To add to the difficulties in assessing the project, there is the wider question of ...

The Labour government’s record on mitigating the environmental damage caused by transport has been lamentable and is getting worse. That has become clearer as each successive Budget has failed to increase motoring taxes at the rate of inflation, let alone at the faster rate required to reverse the trend.The failure to do so is all the more galling because the only time that the growth in traffic volumes slowed was ...

Three current controversies demonstrate how the privatised railway is far less flexible and adaptable to change than BR was, CHRISTIAN WOLMAR maintains. Historically, the railways have been a dynamic system. Lines have closed and opened with regularity as markets and mores have changed. But either expanding the railway or taking out redundant capacity is now almost impossible, as illustrated by a series of interesting recent events - the review into the ...

Governments of both hues have shied away from the fundamental question about the railways. What, in the 21st century, when access to cars is near universal, is this 19th century invention for? The corollary of this question facing ministers is therefore this: What strategy needs to be adopted for the railways? Tony Blair's administrations have a rather chequered history when attempting to set out a strategy for the railways. First, John Prescott ...

There is a big kerfuffle in London over the staffing of stations, with the Evening Standard attacking the train companies for making big profits while paying little regard to security. It is difficult not to have sympathy with the paper and its commuters. South London suburban services are largely a free railway between most stations after 8pm and the local hoodies know it, which does not make for a pleasant travelling ...