What Analysis would you like to read? Send me your ideas, and I will have a go

Writing a detailed explainer about Channel Tunnel through services was an idea I have had for a while. But that a 10000 word piece would be one of my most-read blog posts ever comes as a positive surprise!

So that then leads me to wonder: what further Analysis pieces would people like to read? Comment below this piece, contact me on Mastodon or Bluesky, or contact me (the latter is best if you would like to make an anonymous request) and let me know. And of course whatever I then write will be put on the blog. If you'd like me to write something somewhere else I am open to that as well, but then there might be other criteria.

Providing it is an issue about passenger rail or railway networks, is in a European country except UK, Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Armenia or Azerbaijan, and is a topic that has a general public debate about it, I am happy to have a go. I'd of course prefer if the topic were somehow cross border or international, but if it is not then that's also OK - I am happy to have a go at national topics, if I think I can.

Why no UK? I am British, but there are so many people analysing UK railways and I have been away from there for too long I am not going near it. The Channel Tunnel is European enough for me to make an exception for that, and only that. And the other countries I either exclude for political reasons, or because I have too little experience reading about their railways. And I cannot begin to analyse freight or light rail / metros, as I have more than enough to handle regarding heavy passenger rail.

What sort of ideas might work? Perhaps you have read something somewhere in the news and wonder if it is correct or not. Or a railway company says it will launch a new service, and you want an assessment of whether it will happen or not. Or there has been some rail issue that has been nagging at you for some time, and you never got an answer.

What's the worst that can happen? I will simply say no - I can't do it. Most likely because I don't know how. And if I cannot do it, I will also explain why. But there's no harm in asking! 🙂

Ideas so far

• what would each EU country need to do to make its train services as good as the Swiss? (from this toot)
• why are train services between France and Spain so terrible? (from this discussion on Mastodon)
• why is booking international tickets, and cheaply, such a mess? (from this toot - and partially answered here, but I agree a more systematic answer would be good)