Rail
UK rail operators offer government a choice: Pay up, relax lockdown, or stop services
Train companies have received billions in subsidies since March.
To build its emerging “megaregions”, the USA should turn to trains
An extract from “Designing the Megaregion: Meeting Urban Challenges at a New Scale”.
Has the government just renationalised Britain’s railways?
No, but it’s probably killed franchising.
The government is doing a terrible job of assessing or explaining the value of HS2
Not time, but opportunities.
Every Disney theme park, ranked solely by their trains
The happiest place on Earth!
Is Israel on the verge of a rail revolution?
All change.
Where should Crossrail for the North go?
Getting the crayons out.
HS2 is a solution in search of a problem
The case against.
“Essential to spreading prosperity”: An open letter from the rail industry on the importance of HS2
Dear Boris...
Here’s everything we learned from the Office of Road & Rail’s new station usage statistics
Mmmmmmmmmm trains.
It doesn’t matter who runs the trains. The northern rail network needs better infrastructure
Finishing the hub.
“A remarkable achievement”: the environmental case for building HS2
As big a threat to ancient woodland as one 14 mile road.
The source of Northern Rail’s problems isn’t the franchise holder: it’s the government
Grant Shapps is barking up the wrong tree.
No, Grant Shapps didn’t promise to scrap the Northern Rail franchise
But he’s getting closer.
It’s time to give London Overground different line names
But what should they be called?
If Labour really want to solve Britain’s transport problems, they should redirect road funding to buses
Tories hate this one weird trick.
Sorry, Tories, but £500m isn’t enough to reverse the Beeching Axe
No really, you shouldn’t have.
Here’s a tool which shows you which stations you can reach on direct trains from every station in Great Britain
Happy Friday, everyone
David Hare’s “The Permanent Way” is most powerful for what it says about outsourcing
A rare CityMetric theatre review.
What are the most popular international train routes?
Tales from Europe.
Why California should see its high-speed rail project through
If you build it they will come.
No, the Great Central Main Line is not an adequate alternative to HS2
Gone and also forgotten.
What are Europe’s longest train journeys?
The slow train.
There is one good thing to be said for the Beeching Axe
Rail’s lost is cycling’s gain.
So what just happened with Britain’s membership of Interrail?
Oh look, a metaphor.
Romford to Upminster to Romford again: An ode to Transport for London’s most obscure branch line
Push me-pull me.
HS2’s left-wing critics feed the “maxed-out credit card” myth at their peril
Doing the right’s work for them.
Here’s why it’s actually good that London has so many rail terminals
The case for inconvenience.
“You don’t look like a train buff”: on sexism in the trainspotting community
It’s not all middle-aged white men with anoraks.
Running for a train is good, actually: In defence of the frantic platform dash
No, bear with us here.
Every train operating company smartcard, ranked by how smart the card is
Like you don’t want to know.
Virgin Trains wants to ban standing on trains, even though it’s the best part of the UK rail system
Unexpected human in the carriage area.
East vs west: which is the better British train service ending in “coast main line”?
Bit Alan Partridge, but run with us here.
Here are six things we learned by making a list of every station in London that crosses a borough boundary
Like you don’t want to know.
Tatton MP Esther McVey thinks Leeds is south of Birmingham for some reason
The worst railway map ever created.
“26 minutes late”: The diary of a Thameslink passenger
Turns out, it *is* as bad as they say.
How can you travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow? Let me count the ways
That’s a lot of train lines.
11 things I’ve learned as a pre-Crossrail Crossrail commuter
Because Nessie hunters and Outlander fans need to get around too.
A chilling and exhaustive inventory of London’s major railway stations ranked by temperature
Baby it’s cold outside.
This month’s increase in rail fares isn’t that huge – but commuters are still right to be furious
Fare and balanced.
Joe Anderson: Why I resigned from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership
The Labour mayor of Liverpool has a few choice words for Chris Grayling.
Why exactly do rail services to the cities of the England’s South West keep getting cut off?
Beyond the seawall.
Here’s the case for reopening Edinburgh’s lost circle line
Much cheaper than that tram.
London’s Gospel Oak to Barking line might be about to lose all its trains to Birmingham
Your commute in Chris Grayling’s hands.
Why the government must start consulting locals before building
Big infrastructure, little democracy.
Just a big map of the cost of a return ticket from London to almost everywhere else in the country
A rare CityMetric post that is actually useful.
Infrastructure populism: on the politics of building big, or failing to
What do Johnson, Mussolini and Trump have in common?
An important and objective ranking of the 17 main stations on the East Coast Main Line
Peterborough! Doncaster! Retford!
The case for Birmingham Crossrail, revisited
Get the crayons out, Gladys.
We walked 18 miles along the Crossrail route. Here’s what we learned
Walking with Elizabeth.
A new report explains who is to blame for this summer’s rail meltdown
Literally everyone.
An Australian rail network raises awkward questions for Michael Portillo
A brief cost, benefit analysis.
Updated: When does London’s Crossrail open?
We’re not calling it the Elizabeth Line until we have to.
A brief tour of Britain’s least used stations
Empty tracks at empty stations.
“Labour and capital are one on Sodor”: on the economics and politics of Thomas the Tank Engine
A Stakhanovite desire to be “really useful engines”.
Why do bridges collapse – and how can we prevent it?
After Genoa.
Here are five tricks to get cheaper rail tickets in Britain
Gaming the system.
An official and objective ranking of London’s 14 major rail terminals
We will not be responding to complaints at this time.
Why hasn’t Chris Grayling resigned?
Seven theories.
Five things we already know about Crossrail 2’s Euston-St. Pancras mega-station
One station to bind them all.
Could TfL management save London’s rail passengers from Thameslink?
I’m not convinced.
The Georgian vicar whose ideas could have saved Thameslink passengers from misery
A mathematical conundrum.
Letter: Manchester’s Ordsall Chord was not the cause of its rail network’s problems
One of our occasional forays into the CityMetric postbag…
Podcast: The Great Northern Rail Crisis
Grim up north.
It’s time to rethink how the British railway network works
The case for rail city regions.
Is a dose of regionalisation the cure for Britain’s troubled railways?
A low-investment hangover.
Are German trains really better than British ones?
Questions to which the answer is maybe.
On London Overground’s Gospel Oak to Barking line, electric dreams do come true
You notice that *London* gets electrification.
So why is Northern Rail in chaos? Here are 11 reasons
A scandal twenty years in the making.
The Northern rail chaos shows why the North should control its own railways
Take back control.
Here’s why high speed trains don’t always save that much time
A brief maths lesson.
War and Peace and Trains: Geopolitics and railways on the Korean peninsula
It will be a long time before trains run from Seoul to Pyongyang.
The new London rail maps are out, and they are horrible
Eww, eww, eww, eww.
Would EU rules really prevent Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party renationalising the railways?
Short answer: no, but.
Britain introduces major new rail timetable, watches network instantly collapse into chaos – LIVE!
New rail routes AND highly visible screw-ups? Ambassador, you are spoiling us.
Here are seven new uses for Britain’s defunct pacer trains
A new Pacer life.
Letter: Bristol also needs a Crossrail
Another dip into the CityMetric postbag.
So what went wrong with Philip Hammond’s proposed millennial railcard?
“No-one wants to pay for it.”
Europe’s night trains are under threat – and campaigners are moving to defend them
Starlight express.
Letter: In the USA, you need buses to make the trains work
One of our occasional forays into the CityMetric postbag…
Why shouldn’t Birmingham have its own Crossrail?
The case in favour.
Some German fella has made a map of London’s “S-Bahn” network, and it’s glorious
Why can’t reality be this pretty?
13 places the Elizabeth line won’t go to
The lines not taken.
Podcast: Dad jokes
A tribute, of sorts.
We should talk trains less – and buses more
Transport for the masses.
Why doesn’t London build an RER network, like Paris did?
Perhaps it already did.
“Millennials are an afterthought when it comes to transport”: on the government’s new railcard policy
A Labour MP writes.
The continent’s approach to rail liberalisation holds lessons for Britain
No, it isn’t a nationalised paradise.
No trains south of London during cold weather? Blame a pair of Herberts for choosing the wrong electrical system
Bit of a problem if you want it to go anywhere.
This interactive map of the Swiss rail network is just really, really cool
Eat your heart out, Harry Lime.
12 things we learned by reading every single National Rail timetable
Perfectly normal activity for very reasonable people.
The trains in Sydney are collapsing into chaos, while the government yells about the union menace
Trouble down under.
Rail privatisation hasn’t worked. It’s time to reverse it
The case for nationalisation.
Podcast: Eleven Minutes Late
A brief history of the British Railways, with Matthew Engel.
No, increasing rail fares isn’t ‘progressive’: the case for investing in transport
Wider economic benefits.
Seven thoughts on this week’s rail fare rises
Complex and difficult.
What can Britain learn from the first nationalisation of its railways?
Seventy years on.
The new train operator in the West Midlands is splitting its business in two. Here’s why that’s a good thing
A local train for local people.
What’s in the government’s new rail strategy?
Reopening lines, reforming franchising.
Barnet council has decided a name for its new mainline station. Exciting!
Oh, well, that was predictable.
Network Rail let me have a play on Manchester’s new rail bridge. Here’s what I learned
Playing on the tracks.
Here’s why Bradford is the key to fixing the West Yorkshire transport network
Exchanging the Interchange.
No, High Speed 2 isn’t really about capacity
The case against.
Is it really worth running HS2 via Old Oak Common? This guy thinks he has a better plan
The Thorn-shaped route.
London Overground is experimenting with telling passengers which bits of the next train is busiest
Budge up.
Here’s everything we learned from this map of British Rail’s InterCity services, c1981
Busy doing nothing.
In the North of England we don’t have to remember British Rail: we’re still stuck with all its old trains
The good old days.
This is how stations can be at the heart of urban housing supply
Future-proofing.
Is Crossrail for the North really the biggest priority for the north?
The data suggests otherwise.
22 reasons the hyperloop and driverless cars don't mean we don't need HS2
Just when I thought I got out they pull me back in.
“All life's serious journeys involve a railway terminus”: Europe is cleaning up its destination stations
Scrubbing Gare du Nord.
By scrapping plans to electrify regional railways, transport secretary Chris Grayling is undermining Chris Grayling
Great work, genius.
How did (more of) the world’s major rail terminals get their names?
Some reader feedback.
How did a single computer failure take out the whole of the Melbourne rail network?
Dumb ways for your train service to die.
Which parts of Great Britain are furthest from a train station?
Admit it, you always wanted to know.
How did the world’s major rail terminals get their names?
Locations and functions and battles, oh my.
How many railway terminals does London have?
Well, it’s complicated...
Cats and dogs and Pokémon and ball pools: The eight joyful trains of Japan
No really, that’s what they’re called.
Are the Tories planning to cut Crossrail 2? And how can they deliver HS2 without it?
The gaps in the manifesto.
A nationalised railway doesn’t have to be rubbish – but this one probably would be
On the Labour manifesto.
An investigation into the important matter of Chris Grayling’s secret adoration of the maglev
The most important news of the day.
Worried Guildford will be destroyed by Chinese trains? Then you might not be very nice
No, the Chinese state is not running South West Trains.
Britain's departure boards should tell us less about train operating companies, and more about service speed
ICE, ICE, Baby.
Here’s a live map of every train on the UK national rail network to play with
Mmmmmmm live train data.
Paris vs Tokyo: the two different models for express commuter rail stopping patterns
Next stop, everywhere.
Podcast: The Iron Road to Europe
Choo, choo.
What can Britain learn from Europe’s trains – and vice versa?
*busts a move to SNCF jingle*
There is an obvious candidate to take on Southern Rail – but the government won't choose it
Thanks, Chris.
Could New York City get its own CrossRail?
Well, no, but we can dream.
Podcast: The permanent way
Trains! Trains! Trains!
Southern Rail is resuming full service – but how did the company's industrial relations get so bad?
All out.
To RER A, or to RER C? How Paris typifies the two models for cross-city commuter train lines
Cost vs utility.
Virgin Trains let me ride up front with the driver, so here's everything I learned that day
Choo-chooooooo!
Chris Grayling isn’t privatising the railways – but his weird partisanship will hurt them all the same
Good news, bad news.
“Why is this man transport secretary?” On the naked partisanship of Chris Grayling
Oh good, there's more.
Chris Grayling just blocked TfL's plan to take over London's railways
Thanks, Chris. Thanks a lot.
This is the route of the Hogwarts Express
Harry Potter and the helpful route map.
Sim Chris Grayling: What else could Britain's transport secretary build if he cancelled High Speed 2?
Lots, it turns out.
Southern Railway’s strike tweet highlights the new, nasty era we’re living in
We can work it out. Right?
TfL releases new rail map showing scale of its Overground ambitions
Orange is the new black.
Waterloo vs Clapham Junction: Which is Britain’s busiest station?
Clash of the titans.
The Southern Rail mess isn’t a privatisation failure – it’s a return to the 1970s
Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1979.
From Platform 0 to Platform 9¾: The strange world of British Rail mathematics
When is 1 the number next to 20?
Here are seven of the world’s best stations
Just, because.
Why is Southern Rail cancelling so many trains?
The mysterious vanishing railway.
Six reasons a heatwave can screw up your evening commute
Feeling hot, hot, hot.
Elevated rail is more effective than trenching. So why is it so hard in Melbourne?
There! Up in the sky!
Britain’s rail system is working OK for once. So the Competition & Markets Authority wants to stuff it up
Free for all.
What would HS2 actually look like? This video shows you
Bird's eye view.
Blimey: TfL to take over most of London's rail network, says government
But what will it mean for the map?
A brief tour of the Lancashire rail network: or, why HS2 won’t regenerate the north
The Preston front.
Here's how TfL could transform South London's railway network
The case for turning orange.
How much do Londoners spend on commuting?
Out of pocket.
No, London is not getting 13 new river crossings
Plans, proposals, and propaganda.
There’s a kickstarter campaign to fund a reprint of the British Rail design manual
Of course there is. Obviously.
Forget free rail for the under-11s. Here are three other ways to make London transport fairer
Why the obsession with giving children free stuff?
Transport for Madeira: How to get around when you live on a volcanic island
We went to a Portuguese archipelago and all we got were these lousy photos.
Everything's turning orange: Here's why south London deserves the Overground
South London deserves a better service – users definitely pay for one.
These travel time maps show how well, or badly, British cities are connected by rail
Abandon hope all ye who enter Hull.
Forget the railways: to address inequality, we should nationalise the bus network
Four wheels better.
Why don’t more city transport networks use “through-routing”?
Gaps in the service.
"The end of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway meant the end of northern economic independence"
A brief history of L&YR.
The case for re-nationalising Britain's rail network
Fabulous savings to be made!
Six things we learnt last week about the future of London's rail services
Maps, maps, glorious maps.
Ministers have shelved the Transpennine rail upgrade. Is the Northern Powerhouse dead?
What is a powerhouse without electrification?
These isochrone maps show how well – or how badly – Europe’s cities are connected by train
Travel times, not time travel.
The SNP wants high-speed rail links between Glasgow, Edinburgh and the north of England
Moving the focus.
The Helsinki to Tallinn tunnel could be operational by 2030
Talsinkifix! Talsinkifix! Talsinkifix!
Everything you know about British train fares is wrong
Time to stop blaming the profiteers.
No, Cambridge probably isn't getting a subway or a monorail
Awww, spoilsports.
UK rail fares aren't just overpriced – they're confusing and unfair, too
We need to get back on track.
Video: The UK just got its first battery-powered train
Just insert 80,000 AA batteries, and away we go.
London could get a whole new rail terminal
First since 1899, fact fans.
What would London's new orbital rail link look like?
Boris thinks big.
