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…
Electrification sits at heart of Scotland’s transport agenda
Delve into the Scottish Government’s updated climate change plan and there’s a picture of an electrified railway on the title page of the chapter about transport. Look past the profusion…
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…
Banish diesel to make the railway greener
Great Western Railway’s withdrawal of diesel High Speed Trains from Paddington leaves Brunel’s terminus almost wholly in the hands of electric trains. King’s Cross is about to see a similar…
Glasgow needs better
Glasgow has the best suburban rail network outside London but a report now calls for more. The report comes from the city’s connectivity committee, headed by David Begg, who has…
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
Network Rail
Rolling stock
Trade unions
Train operators
Transport Scotland
Uncategorized
Railway must avoid broken promises
At least the man with the ‘kick me’ sign on his backside didn’t pin it there himself. The railway pinned its own sign, judging by the kicking people gave it…
Crossrail
Department for Transport
Infrastructure
Network Rail
Politics
Rolling stock
Train operators
Transport Scotland
Problems that politicians cause on the railway
Ministers and civil servants cannot control aspects of the railway and then deny responsibility when things go wrong.
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…