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© 2023 Gareth Dennis
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Join railway engineer and writer Gareth Dennis plus a wide range of guests on his semi-topical weekly talk show about all things rail...
This podcast is uploaded after the live (or live-ish) show has finished on YouTube at 7pm (UK time) on Wednesdays.
This podcast is uploaded after the live (or live-ish) show has finished on YouTube at 7pm (UK time) on Wednesdays.
218 Episodes
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With the election approaching, we do a page-turn of the Public Accounts Committee's report into rail reform in Britain, as published back in May.
Six years have passed since the DfT said the railway needed reform, and four years have passed since initiating that reform programme, via its white paper (we've been through the ill-fated Williams-Shapps Plan For Rail already) in 2021. We were supposed to have Great British Railways by March 2024. No such organisation has appeared.
The reason it didn't tells us a lot about the challenges that the next government will face in changing the rail industry for the better - whether radically or incrementally.
You can download the report here: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/201745/rail-reform-noone-in-government-putting-needs-of-passengers-and-taxpayers-first-pac-reports/
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
Okay, a cheeky local one this week, amongst some news... Haxby station is looking increasingly likely to appear in the next few years, so let's talk about if it is in the right place, what the wider railway network around York ought to look like, some of the timetable challenges of achieving that, and why it is being designed to look so awful again when the HUB station designs are now formally part of Network Rail's design guidelines.
Also: THE NEWS.
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We're jumping back in time to October 2022, and flicking through Network Rail's strategic advice for the West Midlands and the urban area around Birmingham. Lots to learn from this one - there will be diagrams and pictures and thoughts galore!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
It's a proper techy one this week, and we're talking all things CANT or SUPERELEVATION. What is it? Why do we need it? Why don't we need it? All your questions, answered. Oh, and dust off your GCSE mechanics because we will be doing some MATHS with EQUATIONS.
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
This one has been in the pipeline a while... Should we reopen the full Waverley Route from Tweedbank south to Carlisle? No! We shouldn't!
I'll explain precisely how we shouldn't, using maps, showing the route that any new Borders Main Line should take, and explaining how and why you'd choose between the two available options. I might even tell you how much it would cost!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
Well, our original plans are out the window as Labour decided to publish their plans for Britain's railways. We have no choice but to go through them. And it might not take us a full episode.
Let's see if they are worth the pixels... And whether nationalisation will mean that, and if it will deliver.
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
It's a Wales episode! AND it's a bus episode! When I talk about Wales being way out ahead of the rest of the UK when it comes to integrating its transport system, hopefully this report will make the case... We're doing a classic page turn of the Welsh Government's Roadmap to Bus Reform report, covering network, timetable, and ticket integration.
Let's see how good these plans are!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
I often rant and rail about SUVs - you know, the cars designed to maximise the harm they cause to other road users - but what is the data behind the proliferation of these hugely damaging vehicles. Why are so many being sold? What are some of the consequences?
Thankfully, an actual expert is joining us this week to dive into the numbers - Ralph Palmer is the UK electric vehicles and fleet lead officer for Europe's leading sustainable transport NGO, Transport & Environment. I'm excited to chat to him!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
As ever, quite a lot has happened since we last caught up with the news... Not least that vapourware VTOL grifters Joby Aviation have convinced the British government that flying taxis are the future at the expense of anything else. It's another news episode!
*I lied, they won't.
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at / garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
This week we've the pleasure of welcoming back Bessie Matthews, train driver, author, illustrator, columnist and all-round railway industry treasure.
In her career so far, she's navigated a good slice of the rail industry, and so we'll take the chance to explore her story so far and see what she's learned...
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at / garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
After our first pause in four years, 200+ episodes, 280 hours and countless guests, we're back again (we only skipped three weeks!)... And I'm very pleased to welcome Robin Davis onto the show to talk all things Designing New Trains.
Robin has presided over the introduction of several new intercity train fleets over successive generations of rolling stock design, and there's not a lot about designing trains that he doesn't know - so who better to quiz with all of your questions?
See you all LIVE on the 27th!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at / garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
The UK government have finally published their plans for Great British Railways, or rather, the hollow shell of the original proposals, now called the Integrated Rail Body. If it's anything like the Integrated Rail Plan, we are in for trouble.
Much as these plans are intended not to be enacted, the likelihood is that Labour will pick them up and deliver them largely intact, so it actually is worth us digging into them. We can also learn what a better structure might look like by picking through everything that is broken with these proposals, too.
So all in all this should be a really useful episode... Probably not one to miss! And it will be LIVE!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at / garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
CalTrain are pressing ahead with their completely bizarre obsession with hydrogen as a means of powering commuter and intercity trains. It is completely baffling. And it isn't the only nonsense that's been going down over the last few weeks!
Join us as we chat about ROSCO profits, devolved mayors talking big, Euston station's big horrible LED billboard, London Overground's new line names, corruption on Greece's railways, progress on Levenmouth's rail link and a quick mention of the demise of Great British Railways (more next week)...
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
A much requested topic - we are going to dive into the waters of when British Rail ran boats (ships) in the form of British Rail Shipping and International Services, then Sealink UK, then Sealink British Ferries, then Stena Sealink Line, then Stena Line, then... Well, you get the picture. We'll try to demystify things.
If you like boats (ships), arguably the trains of the sea, then this is the episode for you!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at / garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
It's @Youngrailpro Rail Week! In the fourth (we missed one last year) of our YRP Rail Week specials, we are joined by the most guests we've ever squeezed into the format. Five mid-career panelists (most of whom are also former apprentices) are quizzed about building a career in the railway by an audience of current apprentices - because YES, it is also National Apprenticeship Week. And the questions are BRILLIANT.
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
Why is the railway network in the North so abysmal? Well, a lot of it comes down to a rather dismal series of bad policy decisions made through the 1990s and 2000s inflicted by - you guessed it - the over-centralised UK government. Constant cancellations of previous projects has led us to the point where the current "TRU" is only going to finish delivering its outputs in the 2030s, over 50 years after the project was originally mooted.
This week, we'll look at that history and working out where things could have been done differently...
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
There's plenty of news to catch up on, but the big question we'll be answering this episode is "are track defects a particular problem on the Great Western?" - and we'll answer this by looking at data freely available on the @office-of-rail-and-road's online data portal, accessible here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/
Join LIVE to find out the answer and to pitch in!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
This has been much requested given the number of viewers from Ireland - to warm us up in advance of the release of the All Ireland Strategic Rail Review at some point in Spring, I thought we'd flick through the consultation paper (which is really good!) as well as getting our heads around the geography of the island of Ireland.
We'll use our patented* population network method to work out what the ideal railway system should look like, as well as considering the suburban needs of the big cities. There will be maps!
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
It's our official 200th episode! How have we got here?!
To celebrate, I'm running back through the previous episodes since the Episode 100 round-up - but this time not in running order. We'll group episodes with common themes to see if we can remember what we learnt - and if we've learnt anything new since...
Watch the Episode 100 round-up: • #RailNatter | Episode 100: Every epis...
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at / garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
Now I've been going at Hyperloop's jugular for years now, and suffice to say it remains total and utter nonsense unworthy of any technological debate and only marginally worth one at all. We all know it is guff intended to both delay real railway solutions and to allow car and plane people a seat at governmental and regulatory "mass transit" tables.
Yet Hyperloop refuses to die. Even when probably its most well-known company has now bitten the dust, entirely as predicted. Well, we'll dig into why this might be, and will take a look at the current status of all of the Hyperloop players.
Join LIVE at 8pm UK time to get stuck in, ask questions, and hope collectively that 2024 is the year Hyperloop finally snuffs it. Also to toast what is technically our 200th episode!
See all of the stuff Gareth has written about Hyperloop: https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Agarethdennis%20%23loopyhype&src=recent_search_click&f=live
Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
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