RAIL (magazine)

RAIL is a UK magazine on the subject of current rail transport in Great Britain. It is published every two weeks and is available in the transport sections of many British bookshops, especially WH Smith. It is targeted primarily at a business (rail industry) readership. RAIL has been published for over 25 years, under the title Rail Enthusiast from 1981 until 1988, and remains a leading railway magazine. For over ten of those years, it has had roughly the same cover design, with a capitalised italic red 'RAIL' written prominently along the top of the front cover.

Editorial policy

RAIL has been severely critical of several of the railway's institutions, including the Health and Safety Executive, the Strategic Rail Authority and the Office of Rail Regulation, as well as, since it assumed greater powers in relation to the industry, the Department for Transport. The magazines readership peaked in the late 1980s at around 45,000. Since then the market for rail magazines has declined, yet more titles (eg: Rail Express, Traction, Heritage Railways, Today's railways UK) have appeared. RAIL's 2007 circulation is 22,830 (ABC audited figures). To meet the change in the market, the magazine repositioned itself from being purely enthusiast based to being more business orientated. This has met with considerable success, with the magazine receiving a lot of advertising revenue from the rail industry. It has also meant that it is one of the few magazines read within the industry, and which can be found on the desks of enthusiasts, MD's and Ministers alike. RAIL is also involved in organising conferences: The annual National RailConference, National Rail Awards and Rail 100 Breakfast Club.

Issue

• Issue 572 is August 15 - August 28, 2007

See also

• List of railroad-related periodicals