DfT’s decisions will keep external advice to a minimum
Back in September 2011, Network Rail published initial industry plans for England and Wales and for Scotland. The plans were one of several important milestones in ORR’s periodic review work…
Now is the time for rail bodies to get their high-speed Act together
There’s an incredible amount of detail within the High Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) Act 2017 – better known as the HS2 Act. It weighs in at 452 pages and provides…
Operators need to be less conservative and more ‘canny’
Sometimes we make a simple thing sound difficult. Take this phrase from a recent report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: “On-demand door-to-door mobility solutions”. For context the report is…
Great Western fallout: repercussions further down the line
It started in the 1960s within the US defence industry. It’s just reaching Network Rail now, five decades later. What is it? Earned value management, usually abbreviated to EVM. It’s…
MPs sceptical about Network Rail’s digital railway plans
The message to Network Rail was clear: “Over ambitious claims for improvements in capacity must be met with scepticism, and Network Rail should be very cautious about how it uses…
Still time to revise plans and resolve the Euston dilemma
Euston. What to do about Euston? Recent years have seen various proposals to rebuild the station for High Speed 2. The latest came a little over a year ago when…
London Bridge is building back up
London Bridge station’s new concourse provides a good glimpse of what’s to come when the station fully opens in January 2018. Even partially opened, it’s bigger than its predecessor. For…
Britain’s improved railway has to be funded somehow
Nationalisation will solve Britain’s problem with ever-increasing rail fares. That’s a view widely expressed on August 16 when the Office of National Statistics revealed the inflation figure that drives next…
Birmingham needs more than a new station concourse
My Voyager was creeping round Bordesley Curve and the Down Camp Hill to line up its final approach into Birmingham New Street station when a ping announced an email’s arrival.…
Signalling obstacles in the path of NR’s Digital Railway
Railways and technology go hand-in-hand. Switching from saturated to superheated boilers improved the efficiency of steam locomotives. Introducing electro-mechanical Automatic Warning System (AWS) improved safety. Tilting trains have allowed speeds…