Sustainable freight: is it possible?

Sustainable freight: is it possible?

Getting cars off the road and passengers into public transport is the simpler aspect of making transport more sustainable. Freight ...
Rail 887: HS2 in danger

Rail 887: HS2 in danger

It had to happen. The biggest infrastructure project the UK has ever seen was never going to be nodded through ...
Rail 886: Franchising is still with us - just

Rail 886: Franchising is still with us – just

Franchising is dead. Long live franchising! That seems to be the message from the unexpected announcement of the new deal ...
Letter to The Times: HS2 review must look at fundamental questions

Letter to The Times: HS2 review must look at fundamental questions

It is excellent news that the HS2 scheme is finally being subjected to a thorough analysis, including an examination of ...
Rail 885: Leaked memo to Grant Shapps

Rail 885: Leaked memo to Grant Shapps

The new transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has asked officials to ensure their briefings to him are no longer than two ...
Asleep on the job

Asleep on the job

London bus passengers lives are being put at risk, because Transport for London had refused to change its “punishing” shift ...
Rail 884: Williams is wrong to shun Network Rail

Rail 884: Williams is wrong to shun Network Rail

Now comes the hard bit. Does Keith Williams know what he is doing? I am not asking that in a ...
Rail 883: Things are getting better - really!

Rail 883: Things are getting better – really!

Things are getting better. No, really, they are. The railways have largely been out of the news lately, apart from ...
The electric car conundrum

The electric car conundrum

Electric cars are not a new invention. When I was growing up in west London in the 1960s, Harrods delivered ...
Rail 882: It's not only cuckoo clocks that the Swiss have got right

Rail 882: It’s not only cuckoo clocks that the Swiss have got right

We are prisoners of history but we don’t have to be. When writing my various books on the history of ...
Johnson: an unsuitable candidate

Johnson: an unsuitable candidate

I rarely find the time to do blogs but watching Boris Johnson’s performances on the media yesterday cannot go by ...
Rail 881: Reopening railway lines: popular and feasible says Lord Adonis

Rail 881: Reopening railway lines: popular and feasible says Lord Adonis

The most popular transport policy that I hear when canvassing people on the doorstep is undoubtedly the reopening of closed ...
Rail 880: HS2 at risk from the Tory hordes

Rail 880: HS2 at risk from the Tory hordes

There is one policy that seems to unite more of the Tory party candidates than anything else. Scrapping HS2 gets ...
Rail 879: The Crossrail mystery - what went wrong?

Rail 879: The Crossrail mystery – what went wrong?

Wherever you look in the rail industry, there seems to be trouble ahead . I do not want to be ...
Rail 878: Obsession with competition is a waste of effort

Rail 878: Obsession with competition is a waste of effort

It’s fantasy time in the rail industry. Keith Williams made the mistake of asking for submissions from all and sundry ...
Letter to The Times: Extinction Rebellion demonstrates the benefits of pedestrianisation

Letter to The Times: Extinction Rebellion demonstrates the benefits of pedestrianisation

There has been much debate about the rights and wrongs of the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations but Londoners seem united on ...
Rail 877: Pensions confusion spells death of franchising

Rail 877: Pensions confusion spells death of franchising

With the franchising system already reeling from a series of setbacks, somehow the Department for Transport and a couple of ...
My (short) letter to The Times on franchising

My (short) letter to The Times on franchising

The row over pension funding highlights the impossibility of transferring real risks to the private sector. For its shareholders’ benefit, ...
Rail 876: The long slow death of franchises

Rail 876: The long slow death of franchises

The death throes of franchising are not a pretty sight. That the present model is dead was effectively confirmed by ...
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