Railways face the perfect storm
“So, Mum/Dad, what are the railways for?” That is the question the UK rail industry will be dreading hearing in ...
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The last newsletter of the year
The biggest risk of the long term effect of the pandemic is that we see a permanent change from the ...
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The wonder of rail travel
What is it about trains? In truth it would not have been surprising if they had gone the way of ...
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The contradictions of railway policy are all too obvious
It is difficult to know whether to laugh or cry. At the same time as we are getting news about ...
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Rail 945: Was the Integrated Rail Plan really that bad?
Imagine a slightly different world. The railways are being run by a rather impressive pair, Andy, the ambitious and media-savvy ...
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Rail 944: Media gets it wrong on Salisbury rail crash
The rail collision at Salisbury attracted the usual amount of over the top coverage from the media but that is ...
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At least its a plan (sort of)
It is easy to characterise the scrapping of part of HS2 as yet another great Tory betrayal, and for the ...
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November 2021 newsletter
This is my newletter sent out free to subscribers - to sign up, go to my website christianwolmar.co.uk and scroll ...
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Sadiq needs to scrap the Silvertown tunnel to secure Labour’s future in London
Here’s a question for Sadiq: do you want to win the next mayoral election, or at least ensure that your ...
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Rail 943: Cop-out on the railways
Promises, promises. There’s quite a lot of them about. The railway structure is to be reformed, some version of British ...
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Letter to The Times: rail fares need sorting
Sir, Clare Foges is right to highlight how trains could make a far bigger contribution to the net zero target ...
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Rail 942: A big test for the Levelling Up agenda
‘Levelling up’ is the big idea following on from other memorable catch phrases like ‘hug a hoodie’ and the Big ...
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Transport delights in Zurich
Zurich, with a population of 400,000, is one of the most pleasant places in the world to live with its ...
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Rail 941: The damaging war between London and the government
I love London, my home town and one of the great cities of the world. It is a much kinder ...
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The strange obsession with innovation
By Pearl Ahrens and Christian Wolmar Innovation has become something of a buzzword in recent years. From Uber to Deliveroo, ...
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The fundamental contradiction of mobility
The fascinating paradox about transport is the contradiction between accessibility and mobility. We all want to have access to the ...
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Rail 940: Does HS2 fit with the decarbonising agenda?
The government’s decarbonisation policy document is a constipated effort, blood out of stone from reluctant politicians after much delay. It ...
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Rail 939: Crossrail’s long journey is almost over
It’s gone quiet on Crossrail recently, and they like it like that. No news is good news because the past ...
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September 2021 newsletter: a (sort of) return to normal
Life is returning to around 50 per cent normal, so this newsletter is focussing on various events I am speaking ...
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Rail 938: The unanswered questions over the Croydon tram disaster
For more than a century and a half, rail safety has improved thanks to learning from the causes of past ...
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