Christian Wolmar

RAILWAYS are probably the best loved invention of the modern age. Even in these days of anodyne electric and diesel "multiple units" the British love for trains remains strong, as demonstrated by the fact that the National Railway Museum in York is the most visited museum outside London.  Partly the reason for this is that the railways are seen as an invention that had almost universal benefits, creating unheard of travel ...

The list of quangos to be abolished, leaked to the Daily Telegraph today presumably by a government source, includes Cycling England, the body on whose board I sit. The open letter I wrote in Transport Times, which I have just posted on this site, seems to have failed.  From what I gather, though, there may be battles behind the scenes to save Cycling England.  It would, indeed, be daft to abolish ...

I was on the panel of a fringe meeting at the LibDem conference organised by the Association of Train Operating Companies yesterday with Norman Baker who is the junior transport minister, although rail is not part of his brief. He was not, though, impressive. First while lauding the construction of Workington North station in six days after the flood, he got the details wrong suggesting that the station had been swept ...

Talking to a well informed source at the Rail awards last night, I learnt that the Department for Transport has become one of the first departments to agree a budget with the Treasury. The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, has not only accepted the Treasury figure, but he has done so quickly because he wanted to jump over the table to sit on the other side of the Star Chamber. So now  he ...

Road safety policy in the UK is at a crossroads and is set to become an area of political conflict. Road safety was undoubtedly one of the success areas of the target-obsessed New Labour government where as the result of imposing demanding targets and having a clear strategy to achieve them, casualties have been drastically reduced. Now, however, with targets having become a taboo word for David Cameron, cuts by ...

The launch of the compensation scheme for people affected by the High Speed Line between London and Birmingham shows that the Coalition government mean business in pressing ahead with the scheme. Real money is being spent with an initial £50m expected to be paid to people on the route although that is a guesstimate since legally the total amount cannot be capped and it could end up being much more. ...