Christian Wolmar

Justine Greening's idea of going along to the Network Rail members meeting to cast her vote against the bosses' bonuses exposes the ridiculous nature of the structure of the industry. Here is the person representing the interests of the government, which puts £4bn subsidy into the industry, casting her vote which has the same weight as Les from Dorking and Doris from Droitwich who happen to be members because they ...

The publication of the government’s response to the consultation process for HS2 should have marked a key point in the progress of the plan. It should have been the point at which everyone recognised that, come what may, the scheme was going ahead,  the time when the  Nimbys decide to channel their efforts on maximising their compensation rather than stopping the scheme and when a confident minister proclaims that HS2 ...

At the beginning of 2011 I wrote that it would be a momentous year. I’m not sure that it has actually quite lived up to that billing. Although there’s been no shortage of drama and excitement, the weakness of the McNulty report, hijacked by a minister who delved deep into the detail of what interested him – and railway finances certainly did – means that in essence it is ‘steady ...

Justine Greening has kept a very low profile since being thrust unexpectedly into the transport secretary’s job in October. That’s hardly surprising given the complexity of the role and the breadth of the agenda left by her predecessor, Philip Hammond, who, despite his reputation as a ‘safe pair of hands’, ducked making many key decisions and made others for which she will not thank him. Rail tends to occupy much of ...

As Justine Greening steels herself for the flak over the publication of the results of the consultation process into HS2, she would be well advised to read carefully the very thorough report  produced by the transport select committee. The report has a bit for everyone.  While it gives broad support to the project, which was to be expected since all three main political parties favour HS2, there were as many caveats ...

Justine Greening's attempt to soften the impact of the rail fares rise by reducing it to 1 per cent above inflation rather than 3 shows good intent but a failure to realise the practicalities of a very complex and at times antiquated industry. The story appeared in two newspapers this morning, the Indy and the Times, suggesting its source was a briefing rather than pure journalistic wishful thinking. There was even ...