Nigel Harris (born March 1957) is an English journalist and media commentator. He is currently managing editor of ''RAIL'', a UK rail industry magazine. He has been in the railway publishing industry since 1981 where he started as assistant editor of the publication ''

Steam World ''Steam World'' is a UK-based railway magazine mainly covering the British Railways steam era (1945–1968). It is published monthly by ''Steam World Publishing''. History and profile ''Steam World'' was founded in 1981. The magazine ceased publ ...

''. He is often invited to speak on British television about accidents and other rail related matters. He is regularly called before the Transport Select Committee of the UK Parliament to give evidence and opinion. He has also taught on the Winchester Journalism course.

Education and early career

Harris was born in March 1957 in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

and educated at

Burnley Grammar School Burnley Grammar School was latterly, a state-funded selective boys grammar School, situated in Byron Street in Burnley, England. However, during its long history, it moved between a number of sites in the town. History In 1552, on the order of ...

. He then attended and graduated from the

University of Wales, Lampeter University of Wales, Lampeter ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru, Llanbedr Pont Steffan) was a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822, and incorporated by royal charter in 1828, it was the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales, with limited d ...

, in 1978 with Honours in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

. He started his career in journalism at ''

The Westmorland Gazette ''The Westmorland Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kendal, England, covering "South Lakeland and surrounding areas", including Barrow and North Lancashire. Its name refers to the historic county of Westmorland. The paper is now owned ...

'' in 1979 as a trainee reporter. In 1981 he started as assistant editor of the publication ''

''. He has also edited ''Steam Railway'' and ''Trains Illustrated''. He co-founded and managed a book publishing company, Silver Link, from 1984 to 1990 which has since been acquired.

Journalistic and publishing career

Harris was appointed editor of ''Rail'' in 1995. The magazine is currently produced every two weeks by

Bauer Consumer Media Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 r ...

. Since 1995 he has written extensively about the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...

and the

impact of the privatisation of British Rail The impact of the privatisation of British Rail has been the subject of much debate, with the stated benefits including improved customer service, and more investment; and stated drawbacks including higher fares, lower punctuality and increased ...

. He has written opinion and analysis for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', and provided specialist rail industry comment for, among others, the BBC's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme. He has also specialist books on railways and shipping to his credit. One major project has been editing and researching for ''A New Illustrated History of Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate'', by

Ian Prosser Sir Ian Maurice Gray Prosser (born 5 July 1943) is a British businessman. Prosser was born in Bath, England and educated at King Edward's School, Bath, Watford Grammar School for Boys and Birmingham University. He retired in 2021 from positi ...

and David Keay. Harris has provided expert evidence to the Transport Select Committee of the UK Parliament. He was the principal witness at a televised select committee meeting on 26 May 2021 discussing the Williams-Shapps White Paper on

Great British Railways Great British Railways (GBR) is a planned state-owned public body that will oversee rail transport in Great Britain from 2024, with the exception of Transport for London, Merseytravel services, and light rail and trams elsewhere in England ...

formation. He has also given evidence to the

Rail Accident Investigation Branch The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is a British government agency that independently investigates rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. Created in 2005, it is required by ...

. He is a regular conference speaker, panelist and chair.

Conferences

''Rail'' moved into the business events sector, launching the National Rail Awards, with categories including station of the year. Harris has planned and presented NRA presentation ceremonies at

Grosvenor House Grosvenor House was one of the largest townhouse (Great Britain), townhouses in London, home of the Grosvenor family (better known as the Dukes of Westminster) for more than a century. Their original London residence was on Millbank, but after ...

in London's Park Lane. Later events have included the National Rail Conference, the RAIL 100 Breakfast Clubs, and the National Rail Recovery conference (February 2021). Speakers at the latter included

Huw Merriman Huw William Merriman (born 13 July 1973) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex since the 2015 general election. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as Minister ...

(chair of the

Transport Select Committee The Transport Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport and its assoc ...

Jim McMahon James Robert McMahon Jr. (born August 21, 1959) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. McMahon played college football at BYU, where he wa ...

(Shadow Transport Secretary) and Sir

Peter Hendy Peter Gerard Hendy, Baron Hendy of Richmond Hill (born 19 March 1953) is a British transport executive and politician. He is the current chairman of Network Rail and was formerly the Commissioner of Transport for London. Education Hendy was ...

CBE (chairman of

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

). The 2021 Awards were again held at

on 16 September 2021.

Television and radio appearances

Harris is also a television programme-maker having produced, scripted and presented programming for this rail industry market. His description of

British Rail Class 46 The British Rail Class 46 is a class of diesel locomotive. They were built from 1961 to 1963 at British Railways' Derby Works and were initially numbered D138–D193. With the arrival of TOPS they were renumbered to Class 46. Along with the sim ...

locomotive number 46009 being destructively smashed into a nuclear flask to demonstrate safety was shown on national television. He is often invited to speak on British radio and television about rail-related matters. His opinion was sought by the BBC after the

Ufton Nervet rail crash The Ufton Nervet rail crash was a collision between a train and car on a level crossing near Ufton Nervet, Berkshire, England, in 2004. Seven people, including the drivers of the train and the car, were killed. An inquest found that the crash ...

in 2004. In January 2012, he was interviewed by the BBC for a mini-documentary news item "Inside the new-look

London King's Cross railway station King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Ki ...

". The BBC also sought his opinion after the

2015 Wootton Bassett rail incident On 7 March 2015, a steam-hauled charter train passed a signal at danger and subsequently came to a stand across a high-speed mainline junction near Wootton Bassett Junction, Wiltshire, England. Another train, which had right of way, had pass ...

, a near-miss that later led to spot hire railway company

West Coast Railways West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Carnforth MPD#Steamtown Carnforth, Steamtown Carnforth visito ...

losing its operating permit. After the January 2021

Stonehaven derailment The Stonehaven derailment was a fatal railway accident that occurred at 09:38 BST on 12 August 2020, when a passenger train returning to Aberdeen hit a landslip, near Carmont, west of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, following severe ra ...

, he appeared on Sky News and Channel 4 News and others. Other media appearances include on

ITV News at Ten ''ITV News at Ten'' (or more commonly ''News at Ten'') is the flagship evening news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in July 1967. The bulletin was the first permanent 30-mi ...

and LBC. He also provided media comments after the Salisbury rail crash reporting. In 2020 he appeared in the top 10 of railway influencers. He often writes about HS2, and was described by the ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

'' as a "top rail expert". When the

Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands or more simply, the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), is a United Kingdom government proposal published on 18 November 2021. It aims to deliver "increased capacity, faster journeys or more frequent ser ...

was published in November 2021, he called it an act of political spinelessness, saying it created a new east-west divide in the country. He further accused the government of selling the public total lies. He had previously warned that the whole purpose of HS2 is destroyed if the eastern leg was scrapped. He called it hugely damaging for the public, echoing the Newcastle

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

Catherine McKinnell Catherine McKinnell (born 8 June 1976) is a British Labour politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne North since 2010. Early life McKinnell was born and raised in Denton, Newcastle upon Tyne, where she attended t ...

, and raised concern about the blight on people's lives with the cancellation. When interviewed by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' he said the Leeds station upgrade being called part of the IRP by the government was not spin but dishonesty.

Voluntary work

Harris also works in a volunteer role for Great Central Railway Development Ltd, a company aiming to reinstate part of the old

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

, though he resigned as an officer in October 2019.

References