Up the Lickey Incline without a banker -- but my man steams to the railways' rescue.(Britain's railway transportation policy)(Brief Article)

Publication: Spectator

Publication Date: 21-JUL-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)

The Reverend W. Awdry could never have written the script. Thomas the Regulatory Engine and Alastair the Superheated Engine have their buffers locked together, the coaches are unhappy and the track is in a tangle. A new character, Stephen the Grey Engine, is telling them all to stick around and try harder but Alastair has had enough. Getting this lot to budge, so he snorts, is like hauling a heavy coal train up the Lickey Incline without a banker. Gordon the Treasury Engine is sulking. If a banker is needed, he can guess who it will have to be. All the other possibilities seem to have run out of steam. Stephen is advertising for a replacement for Alastair. `The Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions' (how about that for a nameplate) wants a chairman for the Strategic Rail Authority. He must be good at leadership, communication, planning skills and so on, and it would help, or so the...

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