In this briefing, Railfuture Policy Director Ian Brown explains the implications for rail campaigners of the bills identified in the King's Speech and subsequent statements to Parliament. "Heidi Alexander cycling in pop-up bike lane before becoming Transport Secretary. Image from @Heidi_Labour on Twitter."

Railfuture sets out its views on why removing the London Travelcard product, and, in all likelihood, the related National Rail Travelcard add-on product is a very bad idea, and recommends action you can take.

Pete Myers, formerly Stakeholder Manager for Northern Rail and now a director of Railfuture, forecasts a potentially stormy year for our railway in 2023. Passengers moving fast at Leeds station.

The ticket office has been part of the Railway since the start. But now 7 in 8 people buy their ticket in other ways – online, from ticket vending machines – or use Pay as You Go (PAYG). Those 1 in 8 passengers though still need to be looked after properly - Railfuture strongly believes that in-person ticket selling continues to be essential. That doesn't have to be from behind a ticket office window though. Ticket Office staff should be redeployed to other areas of the station and take on a wider role assisting passengers - as well as continuing to sell tickets. Effort is also needed to improve and extend online selling, TVM functionality and coverage and to Pay as You Go. We believe this needs to happen before there are wholescale closures of ticket offices. Image by author.

Railfuture’s Ian Brown gives his impressions of a visit to Innotrans during the week commencing 22nd September. The rather traditional entrance to Berlin Messe from the direct walkway from Messe Sud S Bahn station. All photos by Anna Brown for Railfuture.

The rail strikes this week are bad for everyone. Some trains ran, including on Island Line where rail staff voted against a strike. Photo by Chris Page for Railfuture.

The UK government has announced eight new nuclear power stations for Britain, triggering reaction from many environmentalists. But what about a strategy for reducing demand? Railfuture policy director Ian Brown sets out the opportunity for rail. Nuclear fuel and nuclear waste has been travelling safely on our railways for a long time. Image from Reddit.