July 2022 newsletter
It is difficult not to be depressed as I write this during the heatwave. I would in fact enjoy the ...
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Rail 960: Confusion over future of rail
The government’s consultation paper on the Williams Shapps report published on June 9 mistakenly put the year down as 2021 rather ...
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From Marples to Crossrail – how things change
The new and very thorough biography of Ernest Marples, The Shadow behind Beeching, which has just been published by Pen ...
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How to sort out the railways
If there is one thing that the current rail strike tells us, it is that no one is in charge ...
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Rail 959: Why it’s only the state that can sort out the railways
The railways are suffering from a series of intermingled crises and as Nigel Harris argued so cogently in the last ...
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Strike chaos serves both sides’ interests
It’s fortunate that many Londoners have become accustomed to working from home over the past couple of years because they ...
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Rail 958: Crossrail gives us the chance to celebrate
The time for carping is over. Let’s for once just celebrate and enjoy some good news. Yes, I know, I ...
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Rail 957: How SouthEastern scandal exposed franchise failings
In writing this column every fortnight since 1995, I have always questioned the value of privatising an industry that is ...
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Rail 956: Heading for trouble
There’s trouble brewing down the line. Industrial relations trouble, that is. The RMT union has launched a ballot of its ...
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How Great British Railways can learn from the old BR
British Railways lives again. Well sort of. The Queen’s Speech contains plans for a Transport Bill the centrepiece of which ...
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Letter to The Times: Crossrail does not take away money from the North
Your leading article (“Digging Deep”, May 5) rightly celebrates the opening of what is a truly world-class railway. It took ...
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Rail 955: A campaign well fought
Dennis Fancett is a happy man. But he is not totally satisfied, as there are further battles ahead. He has been ...
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How they do railways better in Europe
It’s welcome news that the Government has belatedly realised that attracting people back on to trains is vital for numerous ...
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Rail 954: One country, four rail systems
One of the most spurious justifications for rail privatisation was that it would ‘get government’ out of the railways’. The ...
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Why Crossrail took so long – and why it’s worth the wait
Crossrail was, in the words of its former chairman Tony Meggs, ‘the best project in Europe, indeed the world until ...
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The value of economics to writing about transport
I fell into book writing by accident. In all my career, I have done everything a bit late, which is ...
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Rail 953: Ukraine conflict shows rail still key in modern warfare
Never say history does not repeat itself. An aspect of the Ukranian war that has been largely neglected by the ...
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Be careful what you wish for
The reaction by many rail journalists to the publication of the Integrated Rail Plan was uncontrolled fury. They railed against ...
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Rail 952: The agenda for a new transport secretary
Given world events that have managed to put even Partygate on the back burner, it is difficult to focus on ...
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March 2022 Newsletter: Railways still relevant in modern warfare
In researching my forthcoming book on the role of the railways in the reoccupation of northern Europe following D Day, ...
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