Christian Wolmar

We are approaching the end of an era. Even the most optimistic Labour supporter will admit that the party has no chance of retaining an overall majority, and is highly unlikely to emerge from the election as the party with the most seats.  So it is worth looking back to 1997 when Labour was first elected to se whether its promises have been fulfilled. In my column in Rail 305, written ...

I have been stung by the car hire rip off. I hired a car in Italy for two weeks from Perugia airport, and suddenly three weeks later they send me an extra bill for 1,000 euros. What's more the money has already been charged to my credit card. Most of it is a 900 Euro charge for alleged damage to the vehicle. Quite apart ...

I am writing this column just after the first national rail strike since the early days of Railtrack was announced, and I am conscious that events between now and publication may change the situation. Indeed, Mystic Wolmar might even suggest that the strikes will probably not take place given the weakness of the vote by signallers who only supported it by 54 - 46 but nevertheless it is worth examining ...

Here's a thought - Ryanair and Easyjet might be the only surviving major British operators if this no-fly situation continues [I know Ryanair is Irish, but they operate a lot of flights from the UK]. Surely, if we get a repeat of what happened the last time this volcano got cross when it blew its top on and off for a couple of years, the likes of BA and other conventional airlines will simply ...

This was supposed to be an interview with Theresa Villiers, the little known shadow transport spokeswoman but she proved to be an elusive character. After a dozen phone calls to her office which were answered by people called Giles and Phillipa who all seemed incapable of returning calls, the New Statesman was snubbed as, apparently Ms Villiers was not available for interview, as clearly she wants to remain an unknown ...

After the Xmas Eurostar debacle, the company repeatedly said that it would improve its website in future to communicate better with its passengers and respond better to crisis. Fat chance. On the website today, there is a mere two paragraph warning telling people not to come to the stations without a ticket but there is no mention of any extra trains or anything that is being done to accommodate displaced ...