Christian Wolmar

Here we go again. Suddenly the issue of a little bit of extra tax on fuel inefficient cars is being ‘got up’ by the motoring lobby into a big issue, helped by a few myopic MPs.
It is particularly dispiriting that any vaguely ‘green’ policies are immediately in the frame to be ditched as soon as [...]

If anything encapsulates the ridiculous way that the railway industry is structured and regulated, it is the decision by the Office of Rail Regulation to confirm the £14m fine on Network Rail as a result of the post Xmas fiasco at Rugby and elsewhere.
Of course, there is no doubt that Network Rail made a terrible [...]

I see that Jon Snow berated Boris Johnson for not wearing a helmet when he overtakes the mayor, when both are cycling on the streets of Islington. It was a bit of one upmanship by Snow, who was quick to point out that he cycled faster than the blond mopped politician and I also think [...]

The simplification of the names for different types of tickets is a tiny step forward in bringing rationality into the fares system, but immediately begs the question of whether a serious attempt is to be made to address the major shortcomings in the structure.
Let’s deal with the good news first. Certainly, getting rid of the [...]

It took an unlikely series of events to make Boris Johnson become mayor since a year ago he was not even among the runners and riders. And I suspect that his election will have a series of an even unlikelier outcomes. His politics until his election as mayor were as shambolic as his delivery, an [...]

I had my first proper view of the Settle – Carlisle railway a couple of days ago,when I travelled there for a DVD that is being made of my book, Fire & Steam. It is a bit embarrassing to confess that I have never travelled on the line and, indeed, even though we did a [...]