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 918: Why rail replacement services are so dreadful

Rail 918: Why rail replacement services are so dreadful

If there’s one phrase that deters people from trying to take a train, it is ‘a rail replacement service will ...
Rail 917: Network Rail's not invented here syndrome

Rail 917: Network Rail’s not invented here syndrome

Network Rail has rediscovered research. One of the great losses to the industry at privatisation was the rapid sell-off and ...
Rail 916: So that's why Crossrail was delayed...

Rail 916: So that’s why Crossrail was delayed…

Had it not been for the Covid-19 crisis, the further delays and extra costs of the Crossrail project would have ...
Rail 915: So what were franchises for?

Rail 915: So what were franchises for?

So what were they for? The question ‘what is franchising for?’ which I have been asking for the past couple ...
Rail 914: A crisis like we have never seen before

Rail 914: A crisis like we have never seen before

‘Crisis, what crisis?’ There are many people repeating the words that Jim Callaghan actually never used. These are the arguing ...
Rail 913: Wrong way to try to prove that rail is safe

Rail 913: Wrong way to try to prove that rail is safe

Statistics are a big part of my business as a journalist. I love it when I can refer to the ...
Rail 912: Accident highlights new danger for the railways

Rail 912: Accident highlights new danger for the railways

Of all the headline stories that become the subject of these columns, this is the one I have dreaded having ...
Rail 911: Warning: cuts ahead

Rail 911: Warning: cuts ahead

The scene: Waterloo station, on Saturday, the first day of August. Time: noon. I have to negotiate a long funnel ...
Treasury draws up cuts plan for the railways

Treasury draws up cuts plan for the railways

Devastating plans to mothball parts of the railway and drastically reduce services are being considered by the Treasury in the ...
Rail 910: the campaign that the rail industry must run to save the railways

Rail 910: the campaign that the rail industry must run to save the railways

It is impossible to exaggerate the extent of the crisis that the railways are facing. Glib optimism that people will ...
Rail 909: J'Accuse - the culprits wrecking the rail industry

Rail 909: J’Accuse – the culprits wrecking the rail industry

(With apologies to Émile Zola) A letter to Boris Johnson, Prime Minister Sir Permit me to set out how a ...
Rail 908: The future is vertical...and the slavery myth

Rail 908: The future is vertical…and the slavery myth

Let’s look to the future for once, given that the present is so bleak. I will desist from pointing out, ...
Rail 907: Muddled policy wrecking the railways

Rail 907: Muddled policy wrecking the railways

I am at risk of repeating myself. I would love to be writing about something other than the impact on ...
Rail 906: The railways must stop telling people not to use them

Rail 906: The railways must stop telling people not to use them

Whatever happened to ALARP? That’s the safety principle by which the railway is supposed to function in relation to safety ...
Rail 905: Risk assessment is key to future of the railways

Rail 905: Risk assessment is key to future of the railways

Boris Johnson’s speech to the nation on Sunday May 10th was rambly, incoherent and he failed dismally in his attempts ...
Rail 904: Abnormal, the new normal

Rail 904: Abnormal, the new normal

We are now in the new normal of empty train stations, reduced timetables and injunctions to people not to take ...
Rail 903: The new normal is totally abnormal

Rail 903: The new normal is totally abnormal

As a journalist for nigh on half a century, who has covered all kinds of extraordinary stories, big and small, ...
Rail 902: The trains must be kept running - even empty

Rail 902: The trains must be kept running – even empty

We have found out what living in a sci-fi dystopia is like. Fortunately, the basic services such as water and ...
Rail 901: Reaching into the unknown unknowns

Rail 901: Reaching into the unknown unknowns

Harold Macmillan used to say that what he was most worried about when Prime Minister were ‘events’ or, as Donald ...
Rail 900: Has the franchising question been answered at last?

Rail 900: Has the franchising question been answered at last?

Things are too busy and exciting in the rail industry to spend the whole of this column looking back but ...
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