Sleeper starts with a few problems
It wasn’t the most auspicious start to my first run on new stock from Edinburgh to London with Caledonian Sleeper. The company rang me that morning to say the coach…
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…
Crossrail staggers into another crisis
Crossrail is in a mess. Maundy Thursday 2019 came with headlines claiming that Crossrail might not open until 2021. Stories citing senior but anonymous sources within the company. On the…
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
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Network Rail
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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…
Restoring operations to rail’s frontline
Halfway between Littleborough and the western portal of Summit Tunnel lies a little-used trailing crossover. Littleborough marks the traditional boundary for Greater Manchester. Venture further east and you’ll be through…
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…
Department for Transport
Network Rail
Rolling stock
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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’s challenges with an arbitrary deadline
Crossrail's opening deadline was always arbitrary. Let it finish the job.