Paris is to hold a referendum in February 2024 to triple parking charges (to €18/hour) in parts of the city, and double them (to €12/hour) in some of the outer parts of the city. Details of exactly what is proposed here. Great idea, I am all for it. The news […]
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Stuck between an undeveloped market and the hangovers of state monopolies, rail passengers face the worst of both worlds
It’s one of the most common questions I field from journalists: “would more private companies help with the state of the railways in Europe?” And rather than a yes or no, my answer is instead “I’m not sure“. That puts me in a strange position – I take no position […]
NEWAG’s digital sabotage of Koleje Dolnośląskie (Dolny Śląsk) trains – what were they thinking?
In the past couple of days, my Mastodon feed has been full of astonishment about how three Polish IT specialists discovered digital sabotage attempts in trains built by manufacturer NEWAG. The original Mastodon toot is here, and there is more detail about the case in Polish, German and English. Read […]
European Commission’s cross border pilot projects – a good idea
The European Commission’s cross border pilot projects are a good idea – but not the way the Commission communicates it In January 2023 the European Commission announced its 10 cross border railway pilot projects. That the Commission would do this was a commitment in its 2021 action plan to boost […]
So party politics did not work. It’s time to solve Europe’s railway problems some other way
“Machen, was zählt” – “Do, what counts” That was the slogan of the party conference of the German Grüne this week in Karlsruhe, and I was running for a place on the party’s European Parliament election list. That effort failed completely yesterday evening when I tried to run for position […]
Why bother with sensible transport policies when you can propose a Maglev instead?
By the end of this week I will finally know my fate – on Friday 24th November the congress of the German Grüne will vote for the party’s list of candidates for its European Parliament, and I hope to be elected to position 14 on the list. Having worked on […]