NR creates London freight blueprint
In West London there’s a pair of tracks known as the Up Poplar and Down Poplar. They link the Great Western Main Line with the North London Line. A train…
Britain needs electric freight
Noel Dolphin is an enthusiast for electric trains. That shouldn’t surprise anyone because he works for Furrer+Frey, which is the Swiss company that developed the electrification system that Network Rail…
When will passengers return?
I woke early the other morning. Too early. All was black outside and time dragged. It seemed to be hours before the eastern sky slowly lightened and the sun hauled…
Department for Transport
Environment
Freight
Infrastructure
Network Rail
Operations
Planning
Politics
Decarbonisation shows rail’s route forward
Britain needs more electric railways. They are cleaner and greener. They provide lower operating costs but need heavy investment in masts and wires. Electric railways bring decarbonisation. It’s this heavy…
Could fibre optic sensors prevent a future Carmont accident?
To say the terrible derailment at Carmont shocked those running Scotland’s Railway is an understatement. Staff across ScotRail and Network Rail Scotland were busy – to borrow Scotland’s Railway’s tagline…
Clearing congestion from Castlefield Corridor
Whichever way you look at Manchester there are no easy answers to the congestion caused by pushing more trains along the twin-track Castlefield Corridor between Piccadilly and Deansgate stations. The…
Department for Transport
Freight
High Speed 2
Infrastructure
Network Rail
Planning
Train operators
Transport Scotland
Rail needs strategic direction yet local delivery
London’s Institute for Government sits in a classy part of town, just a stone’s throw from St James’ Palace and the clubs of Pall Mall. I was among a small…
Raising the roof at Waverley
Around the dawn of privatisation, Railtrack planned to build over Edinburgh Waverley station, to plunge its platforms into a stygian gloom so familiar to generations of passengers at Birmingham New…
Electrification is still the answer
We need to talk about piles. They’re at the bottom of the railway’s current problems with electrification. The mistakes that Network Rail and its contractors made with piles on the…
Department for Transport
Infrastructure
Network Rail
Operations
Planning
Politics
Rolling stock
Train operators
People make decisions, not systems or structures
Whether or not you believe that Keith Williams’ railway review will achieve lasting improvements, it gives chance to look at why steel wheels on steel rails help this small and…