Thomas Ableman
banner
freewheeling.info
Thomas Ableman
@freewheeling.info
🚇 Was Strategy & Innovation Director Transport for London
🖊️ Freewheeling Blog / Podcast www.freewheeling.info/blog
SUBSTACK: Freewheeling Bitesize: https://freewheelingbitesize.substack.com/ & History of Europe in 75 Railway Journeys http://bit.ly/3EQNOPA
There are so many news stories this could be a response to.

Every day
January 15, 2026 at 4:43 PM
To say the opposite is to say that it's impossible for the Tories to recover. That's patently untrue: they recovered from 1997 which was - arguably - worse, given the popularity of the Govt.
January 15, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Agreed entirely! @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social is one of the few journos at a national paper that really focuses on transport and understands it in depth. Let's celebrate that!
January 15, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Wow.
January 14, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Is this genuine? Did it definitely actually happen?
January 14, 2026 at 2:26 PM
The other problem with constant one off assessment is that it is likely to be wrong. Whereas treating projects like portfolios means you pool risk.
January 14, 2026 at 1:20 PM
I love the term “continuity of capability”.

Here is my other favourite example:

www.freewheeling.info/blog/what-ar...
What are the French up to? Part 2 — Freewheeling
The French have a plan to transform regional connectivity in 24 provincial cities. Of course they have…
www.freewheeling.info
January 14, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Exactly the right question!
January 14, 2026 at 1:17 PM
My most popular blog post of last year (I write weekly) explored the thought experiment of how the Swiss would have done it.

You get very different outcomes!

www.freewheeling.info/blog/swiss-hs2
This is how the Swiss would have done HS2 — Freewheeling
HS2 has become a case study in how not to build infrastructure. But what if we’d taken a different path entirely? In this post, I imagine how the Swiss would have done it: starting with the timetabl...
www.freewheeling.info
January 14, 2026 at 9:07 AM
The article focuses too much on the build and contracting. The root causes are how it was planned and funded.

My most popular blog post of last year (I wrote weekly) explored this, using the thought experiment of how the Swiss would have done it:

www.freewheeling.info/blog/swiss-hs2
This is how the Swiss would have done HS2 — Freewheeling
HS2 has become a case study in how not to build infrastructure. But what if we’d taken a different path entirely? In this post, I imagine how the Swiss would have done it: starting with the timetabl...
www.freewheeling.info
January 13, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Unfortunately, only “after NPR”, which means 30 years of HS2 not actually being useful.
January 13, 2026 at 8:42 PM
It is fascinating, but it focuses too much on the build and contracting. The root causes are how it was planned and funded.

My most popular blog post of last year (I wrote weekly) explored this, using the thought experiment of how the Swiss would have done it:

www.freewheeling.info/blog/swiss-hs2
This is how the Swiss would have done HS2 — Freewheeling
HS2 has become a case study in how not to build infrastructure. But what if we’d taken a different path entirely? In this post, I imagine how the Swiss would have done it: starting with the timetabl...
www.freewheeling.info
January 13, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Thomas Ableman
"It's an impossible situation. One could not possibly replace Keir Starmer with a better communicator or someone who has a sense of direction the Cabinet could follow" is a fascinating piece of learned helplessness.
January 13, 2026 at 12:31 PM