How can we plan for the railway’s future?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT I know we are entering the festive season, which is meant to be a time of good cheer, but I fear I have to end the year on a cautionary, if not...
Will we really let GBR ‘get on with it’?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT When I listened to the Transport Select Committee take evidence on our Rail White Paper the other week, I was hoping to hear some information on how, exactly, the reforms proposed...
Curtain comes down on bus deregulation
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT Finally, we’ve published the National Bus Strategy. As ever when new “strategies” get published governments love to describe them as revolutionary or ambitious. The National Bus Strategy is no exception, with...
How can we predict with any confidence?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT A quick read of the recent letter from the chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Meg Hillier MP, to our permanent secretary will confirm to you, just in case you are...
Do we really want to take over TfL?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT Surely we aren’t really going to take over control of Transport for London? Sure, TfL is technically insolvent and had we not given that second tranche of money a couple for weeks...
Can better transport links save the union?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT So here we go with another transport review. This time we have a ‘Union Connectivity Review’ to be chaired by Sir Peter Hendy, the chairman of Network Rail. The review, we...
Recovery? I don’t see much sign of that
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT So we’ve put in place new Emergency Recovery Management Agreements (ERMAs) for the train operators to replace the initial Emergency Management Agreements (EMAs). Do we have a secret committee tasked with dreaming...
The (transport) times they are a-changin’
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT When I commented, in not very favourable terms, on Grant Shapps’ decision to set up and chair a new Northern Transport Acceleration Council I suggested that it would need a team of...
It’s time for decisive action on railway costs
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT One of the things I’m increasingly hearing is that the cost of the railways with the new Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) in place is simply not sustainable. Mind you, that’s hardly rocket...
‘One of the silliest things we have ever done’
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT Would you believe it!? Despite the history of major rail infrastructure projects demonstrating that the vast majority of complex projects are always – I mean, always – delivered late and over budget...
‘There is little evidence that we have a strategy’
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT So lockdown is gradually coming to an end. But the transport industry is struggling to get patronage back to anywhere near pre-lockdown levels, not least because we have the rather curious spectacle...
Private firms seemed to get ‘favourable treatment’
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT As we slowly ease out of lockdown, I wonder what the most significant issue has been for the transport sector, and what the long-term impact on the sector will be. At one...
