Pollution harms air quality on trains
That diesel trains emit more pollution than electric trains is no surprise. Perhaps more surprising is that pollution levels inside trains can be higher than those found by city centre…
Lumo launches at King’s Cross
One of rail’s most enduring features is the small slip of paper or card that marks a passenger’s permission to travel. The physical ticket has survived the switch from steam…
Timetables must balance demand and costs
East Coast Main Line timetables will not change next May. Within barely three months of the rail industry launching a consultation into a new timetable, the Department for Transport has…
Unions raise prospect of rail strikes
Unions have a vital role in rail. Love them or loathe them, they provide a voice for railway staff. They provide a counter to managers’ more extreme ideas. In turn,…
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…
Franchising: New rules… same old game?
Franchising is dead; long live, er, franchising. That’s because the law says the passenger operations taken over from British Rail must be franchises unless ministers produce secondary legislation exempting operators…
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…
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…
Using energy to make rail greener
Talk in late January 2019 of greener, solar-powered trains conjured images of trains covered in panels. The reality, if it happens, is more likely to be lineside solar panels feeding…