McNulty’s ‘Damp squib’ still offers valuable lessons
Jumping on a train the other day, I found a Transport Focus questionnaire abandoned on my seat. I can guess what passengers will say in this latest survey. They will…
Is reopening Woodhead viable?
There’s an irony in Woodhead’s tunnels carrying electricity under the Pennines. Where once they thrived on carrying its raw material, coal, now they carry the finished product. Woodhead the line…
Potential but no plans for Scottish rail reopenings
There’s a stark contrast on show at Alloa station. The line heading west towards Stirling features shiny rails. That heading east is heavy with rust. Yet the line only reopened…
Transport Scotland should build Dalmeny Chord to boost rail access to Edinburgh Airport
Recent news that Edinburgh Airport is to increase road capacity to its terminal is a sure sign that public transport to Scotland’s busiest airport needs to improve.The Scottish government dropped…
Railways must remain relevant to survive
To the Mechanicals to hear this year’s railway division chairman give his address. Grand Central MD Richard McClean took the lectern and made the case for keeping rail relevant to…
Give the East Midlands easier journeys to Manchester
We all have closed lines we wish we’d travelled on. I’d have loved to traverse the Waverley Route through lonely Riccarton Junction but it closed before I was born. I…
Commuter fares show rail’s complexity
National Fare Rise Day produced plenty of heat but little light. Supporters and opponents of today’s privatised railway traded blows with dodgy statements. We’ll take the supporters first. The Rail…
There’s plenty of ambition and potential for Tyne and Wear Metro
There’s a gulf between deciding to do something and working out how to pay for it. Tyne and Wear’s Metrocars first appeared from Met-Camm’s Birmingham works in the late-1970s. They…
Size matters for the future of UK train operators
Private train operators have been running for 20 years. The ‘Big Four’ created in 1923 lasted 25 years before government nationalised the railways. The result, BR, disappeared just shy of…
20 years of writing about railways
Twenty years ago RAIL 308 landed on newsstands with a pair of Class 20s on the cover and news inside of a fresh-faced new arrival on the magazine’s staff. I…