I was a guest this week on the Green Signals podcast about rivals to Eurostar and their chances of success. You can watch it here: You can likewise get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. Also – amazingly! – the comments on Youtube are mostly constructive. That is […]
Analysis
Replying to the European Commission’s call for evidence on revision of Rail Passenger Rights
On 20th August the European Commission heavily promoted (Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon) its public consultation on the revision of the Rail Passenger Rights Regulation. As a few people asked me what I thought of this process, here’s my response – part analysis of the problem, and part list of ideas of […]
A high speed rail plan for Europe? Let’s start with a high speed rail plan for France’s borders
The European Commission and the state owned railway companies are getting very excited about the idea there could be a EU masterplan for high speed rail. With that in mind, let’s do a little thought experiment. This started as a Bluesky thread, and has been lightly edited into this blog […]
Solar panels between the tracks on an active railway line: a dreadful idea
In Switzerland, as a test, 48 solar panels have been laid between the tracks on an active railway line between Neuchâtel and Buttes. News about it here, and cue all the feel-good-but-don’t-think-twice influencers crowing about it. But let’s think twice about this. First, should you install solar panels in a […]
New Channel Tunnel entrant? You need a plan for what happens if you fail, so you can actually succeed
No company wants to enter a market thinking they are going to fail. But what happens were they to fail might have a bearing on whether they succeed in the first place. It was with this in mind that I read this morning that Virgin Trains is looking for money partners. […]
The really simple guide to what we need to fix in EU wide rail ticketing, and how
I have just been in a focus group for an academic project about cross border railways in Europe, and ticketing was one of the aspects of it. Some of the others in the discussion were ticketing people from state owned railways, some from rivals to state incumbents, and some from […]
