The Last Word

Customer service innovation

26.04.13: Recently RTM’s Sleeper blog asked how innovation could help improve customer service within the rail industry. Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, gives us his view. Rail is a boom industry; more and more people are choosi...

Complexity and capability

28.02.13: Tim O’Toole, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, explains how the complexity of the rail industry can be its strength. Speaking at the DDRF’s annual conference 2013, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) Tim O’Toole...

Lowering the cost of UK light rail and tram projects

01.01.13: Leeds North West MP, Greg Mulholland, recently urged the DfT to make light rail standards more appropriate in a Commons transport questions session. Light rail projects are being held back by over-engineering and unnecessarily high safety standa...

‘Still a big increase in regulated fares’

01.11.12: Passenger Focus Anthony Smith discusses the current fares structure in the light of the Government’s decision to hold the increase at RPI+1%. Passengers struggling to work in the cold this winter will be relieved to note that the prim...

Reopening Railways: the case for growing the rail network and how it can be achieved

01.09.12: Richard Hebditch, campaigns director at the Campaign for Better Transport, says that now is the time for line reopenings. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the infamous Beeching Report, Reshaping British Railways, which led to the c...

Abandon stations - Build machines!

01.07.12: Chris Williams-Lilley, director of Rail Champions, takes a look back at the events of Infrarail 2012. Reflecting on the Infrarail event in May, it was refreshing to hear so many suppliers and constructors sounding upbeat about the rail ind...

People and the power of collaborative working

26.04.12: Dr Robin Singleton, Associate Director with PSL, emphasises the importance of developing competencies and behaviours for successful collaborative working. New Expectations When the McNulty report was published last year, it made numero...

Pneumatics in the 21st century

01.03.12: Ian Morris, director of the British Fluid Power Association, looks at the advantages of pneumatic equipment within a range of industrial sectors, and focuses on some of the more recent innovations that have made pneumatics more compelling than e...

The flaws in fare policy

01.01.12: Despite the concession by the Chancellor that saw regulated fare rises capped at 6% rather than 8%, few passengers are aware that the inflation plus 3% formula may still apply in 2013 and 2014, say Guy Dangerfield and Anthony Smith of Passenger...