Christian Wolmar

Christian Tage Forter Wolmar (born 1949) is a British journalist, author, and railway historian of Swedish and Russian descent. He is best known for his books and commentary on transport, especially as a pundit on Britain's railway industry, and was named Transport Journalist of the Year in the National Transport Awards in 2007. He is also an advocate for cycling as a means of transport. Wolmar ran to be the Labour candidate for the 2016 London mayoral election but finished second-from-bottom in the voting.

Career

Following his graduation from Warwick University in 1971, Wolmar worked for Marketing, Retail Newsagent, the New Statesman, and the London Daily News. He was formerly on the staff of The Independent (1989–97) and their transport correspondent for four years from 1992, covering the Privatisation of British Rail by the Major government. He also contributed to The Observer.

Wolmar's books and columns mainly analyse the current state of the British railway industry. He has become known as one of the most vociferous media critics of rail privatisation, on grounds which include the upheaval following the Hatfield train crash, the current structure of the industry, and the cost to taxpayers.