Christian Wolmar

Scotland is a very different country when it comes to thinking on transport. We are always hearing reports of line reopenings, electrification schemes and tram projects which creates a widespread feeling that Scotland has a different attitude towards public transport than Whitehall. To check this out, I took a trip up on the overnight sleeper operated by First Scotrail which these days is a far more comfortable experience than it used ...

Given that some £5bn of public money is pumped into the railways annually, it would seem incumbent on the government to explain what precisely that subsidy is for. I am not for a moment suggesting that it is wasted, but it would be helpful to have some intellectual underpinning to justify this huge expenditure. Let's postulate that one of the reasons why ministers are happy to spend this money is that ...

There seems to be renewed efforts by train operators to prevent trainspotters - or indeed anyone else - from taking photographs or filming at rail stations. Both Virgin and National Express have been trying to restrict such activity but it is really incomprehensible why they should want to do so. The notion that it is about security just does not hold water. First, photographs of stations are widely available and in ...

When I first met Tim O'Toole, soon after he was appointed to head London Underground, he was deeply ensconced in my book, Down the Tube, the story of the Underground's ill-fated Public Private Partnership. He was reading it for a second time which illustrated the thoroughness of his approach to the job as he was desperate to understand the concept before starting work. It was not just through book learning that ...

For a long time the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) has tried to keep a lid on the debate over the future of franchising. With its members divided between those who would like to see a vertically integrated railway and others who are reluctant to endorse any notion of change in the present structure, it was difficult for the organisation to steer a middle way. Now, however, in an exclusive ...

I gave a talk at the Jewish Free School today, which used to be in Camden but is now in the wilds of Kingsbury on a purpose built PFI site (prop Jarvis) opened by Tony Blair six years ago.  It was a salutory experience. I decided to sock it to the pupils, who were from the upper sixth, about cars and the damaging effects of car dependency and they gave ...