Christian Wolmar

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Christian Wolmar is a British journalist and author, best known for his books and commentary on transport, especially on Britain's railway network.

Christian Wolmar has developed a reputation as one of the most visible commentators on transport, and has written for a very wide range of publications on the subject, as well as appearing regularly on TV and radio. Christian Wolmar was named as Transport Journalist of the Year in the National Transport Awards in July 2007. His latest book is Fire & Steam, a history of the railways, which was published in September 2007.

After a career spanning various publications including Marketing, the New Statesman, the Observer and the London Daily News, Christian Wolmar was transport correspondent of The Independent for four years from 1992, covering Britain's rail privatisation. He has written books on the privatisation of the rail network and of the London Underground. He is critical of the rail privatisation process, both in terms of the upheaval which was caused following the Hatfield train crash and the cost to taxpayers. His two most recent books have proved very popular, The Subterranean Railway: a history of the London Underground published in 2005 and Fire and Steam, the first major new history of the railways in Britain for 30 years. Both have attracted many favourable reviews. He is now writing a history of the world's railways and continues to produce regular columns for Rail magazine and Transport Times.

He has also written a book on the abuse scandals in children's homes, Forgotten Children, published in 2000 and has written extensively about housing and local government.

[edit] Partial bibliography

Stagecoach: A Classic Rags-to-Riches Tale from the Frontiers of Capitalism (rev. ed., 1999), ISBN 0-7528-3088-0
Down the Tube: The Battle for London's Underground (2002), ISBN 1-85410-872-7
The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever (2004), ISBN 1-84354-022-3
On the Wrong Line: How Ideology and Incompetence Wrecked Britain's Railways (rev. ed. 2005), ISBN 1-85410-998-7 (previously published as Broken Rails)