Christian Wolmar

I was at the National Transport Awards the other night, finding myself, as usual, rather galled about all the self-congratulation in an industry that is rightly often derided, a feeling that was rather reinforced by seeing Jarvis picking up awards. Perhaps a positive way of looking at it would be to suggest the company had turned the corner but there is still the sense that there are far too many of ...

A triple-pronged battle over the financial future of the railways will be fought during the next two years between the Government, Network Rail and the ORR. But CHRISTIAN WOLMAR believes it’s more like an exercise in fantasy economics. Let battle commence. Network Rail’s Initial Strategic Business Plan Control Period 4 is much more interesting than its mind-numbing name might suggest. It is the fi rst serious shot to be fi red ...

There is the whiff of change in the air. At first the replacement of one rather dull Scottish lawyer by another as transport secretary was viewed as a insignificant shift that would leave previous policies intact. But Douglas Alexander is showing, within the limitations set by his friend Gordon Brown at the Treasury, that he is no mere Alistair Darling Mark Two and that his agenda is rather wider than ...

It is scarcely believable that Metronet has yet again been responsible for major bungles on the Tube which led to an engineering overrun on Monday and damage to the track which closed down part of the Victoria Line on Tuesday. The recent list, ranging from failing to stress rails in readiness for the summer to closing down a section of line during the Easter break only to fail to carry ...

A new report warning that a ‘pessimism bias’ is preventing Britain from getting the large-scale rail infrastructure projects it needs is applauded by CHRISTIAN WOLMAR. Why is Britain so hopeless at building major infrastructure projects? The answer people always give is that the Treasury is very reluctant to approve schemes. This has always been a mysterious area since successive Chancellors (there were some before Gordon!) always talk about what is best ...