Christian Wolmar

It's time to give up on expanding Heathrow, the world's least-loved airport. The High Court ruling yesterday that there had been insufficient consultation on the third runway was the second kick in the teeth for the airport in the past couple of weeks. The first was when Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, announced that the preferred route for the high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham would not connect directly with ...

Despite my name, I have never been a religious person and therefore I find the concept of ‘faith' rather difficult. When I visit one of those majestic richly decorated cathedrals in Italy, I long to want to cast away my scepticism and join in with the hordes crossing themselves and kneeling in front of statues of Jesus being crucified. But I can't.  And for the same reason, I find it difficult ...

Stephen Byers was such a weak minister that it is laughable to think he has any influence on the current government. He is yesterday's man; an overpromoted Blair loyalist who made such a long series of gaffes that even his mentor was forced to sack him when his tendency to try to please everyone did the opposite and he was found to be telling porkies. The collapse of the National Express ...

Some time later this year the Spanish will overtake the French in high speed mileage, an amazing achievement given their first line - Madrid - Sevilla - opened over a decade after the French and was followed by five year hiatus in which further high speed rail projects were not pursued. I have just returned from a trip to Spain, courtesy of Dimetronics the subsidiary of Invensys which provides signaling and ...

I have just returned from a brief trip to Spain which is soon to become the European country with greatest length of high speed line. That is an amazing achievement given that it was a relatively late starter with the first line, between Madrid and Sevilla,  opening only in 1992 and that was followed by a lengthy hiatus.  The scale of ambition in Spain is quite remarkable. The Spanish are building ...

So much happening all bunched together, that I have had no time to blog - how do those professional bloggers do it, and earn their living as well?. So a quick few points on high speed rail and the PPP, but most of it will be in my next Rail column. As David has commented on a previous thread, the Tories' reaction to the high speed rail announcement suggests they really ...