Christian Wolmar

With the crisis in the Middle East and nuclear power now set to become politically unacceptable, rational governments across the world must be rethinking their energy policy. They could do worse than start with transport. It is amazing how governments will never bite the bullet on this one. As petrol prices are soaring, rather than admitting that this is inevitable and people simply have to readjust to high fuel and energy ...

When  the first line between London and Birmingham  was  being  mooted  in the 1830s,  a Berkhamsted landowner, Sir Astley  Cooper, called the idea ‘preposterous in the extreme’ and suggested that  ‘if  this sort of thing be permitted to go on, you will in a very few years  destroy the noblesse’ . Well it did go on, and Britain ended up with 20,000 miles of railways  ¬– without losing  its noblesse. In  fact,  ...

The franchise merry go round is starting again with the ridiculous short contract for East Anglia, and the longer term one for the West Coast, which, in contrast, is premium franchise on the network. The franchise process is a long and arduous one, and despite attempts to simplify it, there are already complaints from bidders about the obstacles they face. In order to familiarise myself with how a franchise bid is ...

Just a quick early morning rant. Cycling down to Trafalgar Square yesterday, I encountered no fewer than two sets of 'Cyclists dismount' signs, on the cycle paths in Tavistock Place in Bloomsbury and Royal College Street in Camden. If anything characterises the lack of understanding about cycling it is these signs. What on earth makes highway engineers think that these signs make any sense or will be obeyed? This might seem ...

I am no expert on train procurement, so I hesitate to write too much about the new deal for Hitachi trains to replace the beloved 125s but everyone I talk to seems to agree that this is a crazy plan. The idea seems to be to acquire five coach hybrid trains which have electric traction but also have a diesel engine on board for use when the trains operate in ...

I missed the regulator's press conference as I was filming for Tyne Tees but the two press releases issued today shows, yet again, that the regulator is floundering and causing mayhem ineffectually, if that is not an oxy moron. First, there is the bizarre decision to turn down the application for Grand Central to run trains on the West Coast from Blackpool. Now I hold no brief for open access, but ...