Rising costs plunge Network Rail into crisis
Network Rail is running out of money. It can’t afford its enhancement programme because costs have increased beyond initial estimates. No longer can it borrow private money and public money…
Goodnight European Sleepers
Passengers hurrying for an evening train on Friday December 12 at Paris Gare de l’Est were greeted with a small demonstration and speeches. In the rain at the other end…
Rail freight terminal for Radlett
So Radlett is to receive a rail freight terminal. About time too. Its planning application has been wending its way through a tortuous process for most of the last ten…
Railway unions
Rail unions have an important role to play in representing thousands of workers across a variety of companies. They must be able to speak out – sometimes bluntly and sometimes…
An afternoon with Parliament’s Transport Select Committee
When Gwyneth Dunwoody chaired Parliament’s Transport Select Committee she used to favour the rooms along an upstairs corridor in the Houses of Parliament themselves. These rooms were cramped and they…
Nationalisation? I’m not convinced
Calls over the early May Bank Holiday weekend to nationalise Britain’s railways from a group of Labour candidates sounded alluring but I’m not convinced the figures behind their arguments stack…
Changing infrastructure is a challenge
A recent survey from the CBI has put into stark perspective the challenges that major infrastructure promoters face in convincing an often sceptical public that the improvements they propose are…
Little change for East Coast Main Line franchise
In terms of destinations, the East Coast Main Line franchise today is pretty much the same as when GNER took over from British Rail in 1996. The new company added…
RAIL 742 Stop & Examine
FGW sends Laira fitters to London First Great Western’s Old Oak Common on Sunday February 9 was a busy place. That morning Production Manager Colin Jeffery welcomed extra staff in…
Do we really need the ‘Withered Arm’?
Destruction of an 80-metre section of sea wall at Dawlish has reopened the debate about the merits of finding an alternative rail route into Devon and Cornwall. The obvious alternative…