Labour activists vote to retain council housing
For once, this year’s Labour conference seems to have made a difference in policy. Usually, the gathering of the faithful ...
Whistleblower on the railways
So the BBC has uncovered appalling breaches of safety in its investigative programme, Whistleblower. Sure, some of what it showed ...
Rail 499: ‘Woe-mar’: ‘WCML is great – just don’t let me down!’
Virgin’s Chris Green has accused CHRISTIAN WOLMAR of being churlish in his reaction to launch of the new West Coast ...
Rail 498: Could SET set the scene for publicly run Kent franchise?
At a Labour conference fringe meeting, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling appeared to hint to CHRISTIAN WOLMAR that the Integrated Kent ...
Livingstone tries to sort out TfL’s financial difficulties
The sharp rises on some fares announced recently for London Transport come as no surprise. The finances of Transport for ...
Leave ‘They think it’s all over’ alone!
They think it's all over is much more than just another vehicle for rude jokes about private parts and flatulence ...
Government pulls the plug on Light Rail schemes
New Labour ministers have blown hot and cold about trams ever since they first came to power in 1997. At ...
New research shows people can be persuaded out of their cars
Politicians all too often give up transport as a hopeless cause. Alistair Darling, the present incumbent at the Department for ...
Renationalisation debate should be heard
A really good opportunity for a proper debate about rail renationalisation was lost at the recent Labour party conference. The ...
Rail 497: A ‘Revolution’ that leaves the railway in the red
The Prime Minister’s brief appearance at the launch of the WCML Pendolino service could be a sign of his exasperation ...
Public opinion favours renationalisation
It is not surprising that polls show that most people would like the railways to be renationalised. The privatisation of ...
Rail 496: How the Curse of the SRA claimed two high casualties
The government set up the SRA as a quasi-independent body, but whenever its chairmen tried to exercise that independence, they ...
Sir Alastair Morton
Sir Alastair Morton, who has died of a heart attack at the age of 66, was the man who got ...
Rail 495: The franchise merry-go-round
So the merry go round continues. FirstGroup is awarded the Scotrail franchise although it was not deemed good enough to ...
Success at last
I nearly did not write this column. It was just too bad. There are so many ways of failing at ...
Government dithering means local authorities should take charge of rail schemes
What is it about this government and making decisions? Four weighty reports plopped onto my desk before the summer recess ...
Pendolinos and Voyagers may prove to be one of privatisation’s disasters
I happened to jump on a Pendolino train at Watford the other day and what a ghastly experience it was ...
British Airways needs to wise up
After this week’s dreadful events at Heathrow, British Airways risks the same fate Marks & Spencers and losing its reputation ...
Rail 494: Class of 2004 is improving – but still must try harder
In his annual report on the performance of pupils in the railway school, headmaster CHRISTIAN WOLMAR reflects on a year ...
Rail 493: Review couples too much caution with too little clarity
So what was it all about? Tom Winsor didn’t want it, Richard Bowker has been bumped off by it and ...
