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The argument for a greater modal share by rail is its energy efficiency. This always seems to be framed in terms of carbon emissions, but unfortunately the current governemnt does not seem to care about that. With the sanctions against Russian oil, and the Middle East a tinderbox, I think rail...

The horrific situation in the holy lands gets me down, so perhaps it is better to divert the mind thinking of a relatively trivial thing related to our own interest in transportation. If the major oil producers in the middle east were to place an embargo on oil to the West, what would happen in...

In the earliest days of railways the Liverpool and Manchester railway was built first. Then there was a London to Birmingham line. These two lines were linked by another company called the Grand Junction. With HS2 going from London to Birmingham, and a commitment to build Northern Powerhouse...

According to the Royal Automobile Club, fuel retailers are presently overcharging petrol by 7p per litre. The Guardian reports: Remember the reduction in petrol duty by the government last year? It is money on the table that garages have been all too happy to take up. They know how much the...

With petrol and diesel so expensive the value proposition of rail must be greatly improved over some of the alternatives. Travellers would therefore be assumed to shift to rail. Is this noticeable in people's observations or statistics yet?

The Guardian takes a positive look at 6 new services that were launched in the Winter timetable change. It focusses on international services, of which the re-emergence of the night train plays a key role. There are also new domestic high speed services in Spain and Italy. It is good to see an...

Currently the UK is short of lorry drivers to the tune of some 60,000, according to the Road Haulage Association. The media is already reporting a shortage of Haribo due to lack or drivers. This is of course very good news for the new breed of rail logistics operators such as Orion, and indeed...

I am a bit concerned over a story that I read about the publication of the next rail review being held up by disputes between the DfT and the treasury, the latter apparently concerned over 'cost'. Is anybody able to advise what the situation is with this? According to the article in Wednesday's...

With the need to rebuild rail and bus usage, Mobility as as Service (MaaS) offers a frictionless way to access transport services, rent vehicles on demand, and facilitate customers in avoiding the expense of car ownership. How would you implement Mobility as a Service (MaaS) across the entirety...

This seems to have been an engine with great unrealised potential. Although it was installed and used in prototypes, my understanding is that it had two occasions where it could have become a mainstream engine. I understand that Alco offered the RK270 under its own name for a while in the 1980s...

That would be the mail order retailer, not the South American rainforest, although products harmful to the proper Amazon should be boycotted too ;) DiEM25, a consortium of public figures and trade unions, including the former Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis who famously went toe-to-toe...

The opinion is often expressed on these forums (and amongst the rail advocacy scene) that there is a massive disconnect between the way that highway deaths are perceived and investigated and deaths that occur on the railways. Perhaps there is a similar disconnect between deaths caused by covid...

At the end of World War 2 there was a massive reordering of society and the rail industry had its part to play. It was nationalised under the control of a transport executive along with the rest of the transport system and the intention was that it would all be run as a whole. I get the...

Rail travel features very strongly in a new series running on Sunday nights on BBC1 called "Us". Most of the Western European networks and their stock feature to some extent. The better news is the drama itself is quite watchable - it follows a dysfunctional family who are persevering with a...

On 10 September, Ken Skates introduced a scematic map of proposals for the North Wales Metro to the Senedd. Reported in Modern Railways October edition on page 17. My first impressions are that they look like they mean business in transforming the North Wales rail offering: Conway Valley...

I am fortunate to have spent this pandemic in Jersey, Channel Islands. My local experience vis-a-vis reports coming in regarding anecdotes of travel in the UK, USA, gave rise to speculation that transport ridership is a barometer as to how confident the public are that their government has got...

The recent Stonehaven derailment caused some discussion of the merits of the crashworthiness of the BR Mk3 relative to other stock. Whilst modern stock might be stronger, I wondered if articulation via Jacobs bogies might be key to improve safety in such situations. The history of the TGV in...

I saw this article on an Indian railways passenger car and wondered what passive design features are being incorporated into UK rolling stock to improve the hygiene of travel. With large numbers of new trains on order and in refurbishment, is it still possible to alter rail car design in light...

This is hoisted from another thread discussing a role for the emerging Subnational Transport Bodies (STBs - Wikipedia) in making a national rail plan. So, with Transport for the North And Transport for London having statutory recognition, and the others just getting their feet under the table...

Legislation passed in 2016 allowed the creation of Sub-national Regional Transport Bodies - STBs - which are groupings of the local authorities of their designated areas in the manner of Transport for London which already existed. Transport for the North has been established since 2018 and...