September 2010: Contents


Feature headlines

  • Rail Professional interview: Anna Walker

    When Anna Walker was appointed chair of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) a year ago, a few eyebrows were raised...

  • Could level crossings be safer?

    The collision between a National Express East Anglia unit and a tanker on a level crossing in Suffolk in August (see page 8) serves to remind us how ever-present the dangers of level crossings are...

  • The rights and wrongs of Network Rail

    When Iain Coucher, Network Rail’s chief executive, announced his resignation in June, he cannot have been naïve enough to expect a chorus of regretful farewells...

  • Flexible franchises

    Even before the general election changed the colour of the government, it was clear that something needed to be done to address the issue of the length that a rail franchise should be...

  • Innovating at InnoTrans

    Europe’s biggest rail exhibition takes place from 21-24 September in Berlin...

  • Mystery train

    Mystery shopping used to simply involve trading standards officers deploying youngsters to catch shopkeepers selling cigarettes to children...

  • Keeping customer service on track

    In the 2009 National Passenger Survey conducted by Passenger Focus, it was found that, on average, around 85 per cent of customers on long-distance operators’ trains were either very or fairly satisfied with their journey...

  • Reducing suicides

    In 2009 there were a staggering 265 suicides on the railway, which comprised four per cent of all UK suicides that year...