Rail 448: The unintelligible language that’s strangling the railway
When will the privatised railway ever learn from its mistakes? In the wake of the Special Purpose Vehicles concept, the ...
Proposals ‘down the tube’?
The battle for London's underground is almost over. Five years ago, the government drew up plans for a massive investment ...
Rail 447: Who really runs the railways under privatisation Mk 2?
The new model of privatisation is far preferable to its discredited predecessor but, asks CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, do we still need ...
Privatiation of BR ‘flawed’, top official admits
The senior civil servant who pushed through rail privatisation admits in a forthcoming television programme he knew that the whole ...
Rail 446: In-house maintenance would put railway’s house in order
The takeover of Railtrack by Network Rail has rightly been welcomed across the industry, but the new organisation will never ...
Rail 445: The ‘Oliver Twist’ TOCs must put away their begging bowls
Train operators want to have their franchise cake and eat it, pocketing the profits when successful and yet scurrying to ...
Local government deserves real power
The issue of local versus national interest has been a perennial theme surrounding local government ever since the first local ...
Rail 444: Operators’ CUP will no longer runneth over in new rail era
The flat-earthers of the industry may not recognise the reality, but the Strategic Rail Authority has now effectively become BR ...
Rail 442: Expulsions but extra pocket money for the class of 2002
In his annual end-of-term report, headmaster CHRISTIAN WOLMAR gives his verdict on the performance of pupils at the school of ...
Rail 441: So, Chairman Bowker – just what are the franchises for?
The creation of Network Rail has effectively renationalised the infrastructure, but CHRISTIAN WOLMAR believes the other main pillar of the ...
A setback and a step up
I was working at Shelter in 1980 when the Right to Buy was introduced by Mrs Thatcher’s new pioneering government ...
Residents’ involvement the key to successful housing schemes
In March, the last tenants in the Waltham Forest Housing Action Trust were finally relocated to new housing, a decade ...
We must still listen to kids
The decision by the High Court to award libel damages to two nursery workers in Newcastle over allegations of child ...
Rail 440: Why is the railway network always knowingly undersold?
A new study reveals that the broader benefits of rail travel, potentially worth billions of pounds, have been consistently downplayed ...
Embarrassing riches
There are two interesting things about the story that the departing director of Shelter, Chris Holmes, is giving £25,000 to ...
Rail 439: Let’s stop playing ‘pretend capitalism’ with the railway
With the taxpayer effectively bankrolling and bearing the risk for the new Network Rail, why try to play semantic name ...
Nowhere to hide
Transport is probably the policy area least suited to Parliamentary democracy. The pain is all short term, the gain long ...
Rail 438: Darling’s haste to soothe the crash survivors may backfire
If new Transport Secretary Alistair Darling wants to avoid his predecessor’s fate, he must not allow himself to be hijacked ...
Troubled summer ahead in our skies
The fact that Britain’s air traffic control system is been stretched to the limit has been highlighted twice this week ...
Rail 437: Goodbye, Mr Byers – and hello to a new ‘safe pair of hands’…
As the railways acquire yet another new political master following the departure of the luckless Stephen Byers, CHRISTIAN WOLMAR warns ...
