Christian Wolmar

When Jay Walder, who was confirmed on Thursday as the new chief of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, arrived in London to be finance director of Transport for London in 2000, he was given a helpful word of caution by a colleague. Only one person counted in British politics, he was told, and that's the chancellor of the exchequer - the strange name given to the person in charge of the ...

I've just come back from a trip to St Petersburg where, at the instigation of the Bankwatch organisation,  I gave a talk to activists fighting against various transport schemes which are to be funded by Public Private Partnerships. I came away deeply depressed at the situation in Russia but full of admiration for these brave campaigners, standing up to a state that is all-powerful and utterly undemocratic. Of course, to a ...

The harsh truth is that Boris Johnson has very little room to manoeuvre over his transport budget. He is likely to be forced to raise fares even if that allows his political opponents to make capital out of the increases. Virtually everything that has happened since he became Mayor has reduced the amount of money coming into Transport for London's s coffers. Most importantly, there is a four per cent reduction ...

There is something deeply perverse about the rail industry. While in a recession when customer numbers are falling, most companies would try to attract more users by, for example, reducing the price of the product or improving it in various ways. The train operators seem to be doing the opposite, making train travel less pleasant in various ways. First, and most obviously, they are increasing non-regulated fares by amounts well above ...

Network Rail's analysis of the business case for a north south high speed line looks like a massive own goal. It suggests yet again that its directors have little political nous and have made the classic mistake of commissioning research without knowing the answer they wanted. Not only does the analysis suggest that the case for building the line is at best tenuous, the organisation has not endeared itself to ...

Whoopee, school's out and it is time once again to report on the performance of the railway school over the past year and what an exciting year it has been. Pupils have been moving in and out of the school with all the speed of a Pendolino whizzing through Milton Keynes and there have been some strikingly good - as well as some truly awful - performances. Let's start with the ...