Christian Wolmar

Though not invited to Network Rail’s celebratory press briefing, CHRISTIAN WOLMAR is unsurprised the company made a profit - it’s what Tom Winsor ordained. The BBC got very excited about Network Rail’s ‘profit’ when the half year figures were announced in early December. All day it ran the news as if it were the best thing to happen on the railways since the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester. But that merely ...

Rod Eddington was rather miffed at the press coverage of his report. It concentrated on his support for road pricing which, in fact, was little more than a reiteration of the government’s line with, as usual, the suggestion that it be implemented within ten years. However, the media reaction was hardly surprising given that the report offered little new and, in any case, dealt with matters a decade hence – ...

The Treasury has never really trusted the railways over money. There are mandarins with long memories – or at least a sense of history – in Whitehall and they are wont to refer to the excesses of the Modernisation Plan in the mid-1950s which did, indeed, produce some awful white elephants such as the famous redundant Bletchley flyover and vast marshalling yards amid all the useful schemes such as electrification ...