The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ

Years of underfunding are eroding Scotland’s local services and deepening inequality in communities, says VINCE MILLS

Two-hundred years ago, on September 27 1825, the world’s first passenger railway line was opened between Stockton and Darlington. MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, reflects on the history – and the future – of Britain’s railway industry

The work done by Glasgow’s local campaigners and volunteers is truly inspiring, but it cannot stop at picking up the pieces of an irresponsible government, writes MAYA McGOWAN