In the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty on the railways caused by the pandemic, it is surprising that considerable sums of money and much time and energy are being devoted to the concept of driverlessness. The idea that you can get rid of drivers is a regular theme of speeches at fringe meetings at Conservative party conference and in the output of like-minded think tanks.  Ministers tend...

One clear result of the Covid crisis is that we have to recognise that moving around more is not necessarily a good thing. We may have cheered every time rail passenger numbers went up but there was always a downside. The growth in passengers led to pressure on the network and constant demands for more investment, much of which was needed only at peak times. So working out what...