Rail Magazine

RAIL magazine is Britain’s biggest-selling modern railways magazine, giving comprehensive news coverage for the industry. Over 25,000 copies are sold every fortnight.

Rail 464: Bowker's 'Mission: Impossible' - solving the capacity conundrum

Rail 464: Bowker’s ‘Mission: Impossible’ – solving the capacity conundrum

SRA Chairman Richard Bowker is in an impossible position, at the mercy of forces beyond his control, argues CHRISTIAN WOLMAR ...
Rail 463: Figures expose fragility of Network Rail Experiment

Rail 463: Figures expose fragility of Network Rail Experiment

These are bad times for the railway and they're going to get worse before they get better, warns Christian Wolmar ...
Rail 462: Private sector investment proves to be a mirage

Rail 462: Private sector investment proves to be a mirage

While superficially the new franchise deal for SouthCentral looks as if a lot of private money has been attracted into ...
Rail 461: Short sight at the SRA must not wreck the CTRL

Rail 461: Short sight at the SRA must not wreck the CTRL

With the National Audit Office again turning its attention to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Christian Wolmar calls for a ...
Rail 460: National Railcard would sugar pill of commuter fare rises

Rail 460: National Railcard would sugar pill of commuter fare rises

The SRA could sweeten the unpalatable medicine of steep fare rises for politically influential commuters in the South East by ...
Rail 459: Macho rhetoric of the SRA is alienating railway industry

Rail 459: Macho rhetoric of the SRA is alienating railway industry

The row over the exclusion of First Group from the new Greater Anglia franchise will be just the first of ...
Rail 458: Franchising needs new model as it nears end of the catwalk

Rail 458: Franchising needs new model as it nears end of the catwalk

The franchising system has effectively collapsed, contends CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, and now SRA Chairman Richard Bowker will have to respond to ...
Rail 457: SRA must work out the REAL cost and benefits of branches

Rail 457: SRA must work out the REAL cost and benefits of branches

Forty years after Beeching and 20 since Serpell, the spectre of branch line cuts is once again stalking the railway ...
Rail 456: History repeats itself on Tube and the politicians don't care

Rail 456: History repeats itself on Tube and the politicians don’t care

The damage inflicted by privatisation on the surface railway is being replicated on the London Underground whose Managing Director, Paul ...
Rail 455: How can the beast created in Network Rail be tamed?

Rail 455: How can the beast created in Network Rail be tamed?

The SRA specifies what needs to be done and the contractors do the work, so, asks CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, is the ...
Rail 454: Bowker is in a jam as he fails to outwit Whitehall warriors

Rail 454: Bowker is in a jam as he fails to outwit Whitehall warriors

Richard Bowker has shown his political inexperience by allowing himself to be outmanoeuvred by the politicians over the SRA cuts ...
Rail 453: Another brick dislodged from privatisation's wobbly edifice

Rail 453: Another brick dislodged from privatisation’s wobbly edifice

No matter how much ministers and Network Rail try to play it down, the decision to take back the Reading ...
Rail 452: Cowardice and lack of vision stifle hope for the railways

Rail 452: Cowardice and lack of vision stifle hope for the railways

With the railway facing a period of almost unprecedented uncertainty as it enters 2003, CHRISTIAN WOLMAR calls on the industry ...
Rail 451: After the honeymoon, Bowker must make the marriage work

Rail 451: After the honeymoon, Bowker must make the marriage work

The Strategic Rail Authority chairman has had an impressive first year, but as the time comes for decisions rather than ...
Rail 450: RAIB must have free hand in rail crash investigations

Rail 450: RAIB must have free hand in rail crash investigations

The derailments at Aldwarke Junction and Ealing have again highlighted major safety concerns on the railway. The Government’s announcement of ...
Rail 449: Who'll dare tell the emperor that he's wearing no clothes?

Rail 449: Who’ll dare tell the emperor that he’s wearing no clothes?

Richard Bowker has done a sterling job in pulling the Strategic Rail Authority together, but he remains rooted in the ...
Rail 448: The unintelligible language that's strangling the railway

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 ...
Rail 447: Who really runs the railways under privatisation Mk 2?

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 ...
Rail 446: In-house maintenance would put railway's house in order

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

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 ...
Scroll to Top