Whilst there's plenty of local news for us to pick through, I wanted to focus this week's episode on how railways are becoming sharply relevant in the rise and fall of national and international powers... Whether it's the railway expansion intentions of USAID versus China in south central Africa, increasingly heated riots in Greece over the Tempi rail disaster (an episode for itself soon) or the now-inevitable demise of Vučić in Serbia following the Novi Sad station collapse in Serbia - railways...
Mar 26, 2025•59 min•Ep. 254
At the World Government Summit in early 2025, Dubai's city leaders revealed the latest nonsense they were putting their mobility hopes and dreams into... And it is a real hotch-potch of junk ranging from obviously stupid to mostly pointless to outright fascist. So let's get the #NotAMetro sorter out and sift through them! Read Nicole's great retort to it all: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolekobie/2025/02/24/flying-boats-weird-trams-and-more-from-dubais-future-transit-trials/ Enjoyed this? Ple...
Mar 19, 2025•57 min•Ep. 253
Given it's our fifth anniversary, how better to celebrate than to look at and think about rural Welsh transport and what to do about it? Cue the music! Access the documentation here: https://www.growingmid.wales/article/10136/Mid-Wales-Transportation 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....
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 252
Back in Episode 240 we looked in detail at the corruption, callousness and incompetence that led to the deaths of seventy people in the fire in Grenfell Tower in 2017. Tonight, we are joined by fire engineer and researcher Alastair Temple to look at what the inquiry into the disaster recommends to avoid it ever happening again. Find Alastair Temple's portfolio: https://alastairtemple.co.uk/ Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose...
Feb 19, 2025•2 hr 36 min•Ep. 251
Cities are extremely important, despite only one of them getting much meaningful attention in the UK. Network Rail and WPI Economics have pulled together a report looking at cities and the trends that are defining their futures right now, including post-COVID behavioural changes, and it piqued my interest. Let's take a look together in the usual way! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garet...
Feb 12, 2025•54 min•Ep. 250
To celebrate our reaching 250 episodes, I thought I'd tell the tale of the little railway station that rebelled against Westminster's swinging axe and survived for us all to enjoy today... Located in a stunning spot on the railway line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, Duncraig station sees only around 500 passengers a year hopping on or off trains at its diminutive halt. But it is a unique, beautiful and helpful little station, and the story of its survival holds lessons for us all. So let's ...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 249
Well, they did it. Where the Conservatives blocked it from being built, Labour have in fact waved it through, in a move that will set back both the UK's environmental and economic targets by decades. We'll talk a bit about this decision, why it is really bad, and of course dig into a few months of other news as well. And we have the delight of being joined by Rob from Podcasting Is Praxis, helping halve/double the despair... Go and find Praxiscast: https://praxiscast.podbean.com/ Enjoyed this? P...
Jan 29, 2025•2 hr 51 min•Ep. 248
Way back in Episode 65 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2v846_jqwc), we took a network development look at the Scottish railway map, but we didn't really take a material look at what the missing bits really were... Tonight, we fix that! We look at Scotland's missing railway links that will need to be plugged for the future economy the Scottish Government keep talking about to materialise. We look beyond the approach we considered in the previous episode to see how missing links call on other de...
Jan 22, 2025•2 hr 33 min•Ep. 247
In the first of a couple of Scotland episodes, we're thinking about ISLANDS and how the hell to get to them in a way that's sustainable by all definitions of the term... 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. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 246
This week, we are taking a close look at the UK government's white paper on English devolution... Back in Episode 105 with Jon Stone, we talked in detail about how the UK would simply never have better public transport without deep and meaningful devolution, including of funding powers... It's something we'd been talking about before and we've certainly been talking about it a lot since. Will these plans hit the mark? Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 245
2024 was dismal, for me and for lots of other people too... But 2025 brings us a wealth of opportunities for shaping our railways and the wider world for good. Whether it's rail reform, devolution, level boarding, #Rail200, or the enormous sustained demand for more rail services in the UK, it might just be a really exciting year. At least we can start out thinking that way at least! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change ...
Jan 01, 2025•25 min•Ep. 244
In the first of what I hope will be a format we can exploit long into the future, Tom Pain (host of @tenthousandlossespodcast4026 ) joins us to talk about US flights that don't need to exist because they should - or indeed already do - have better rail alternatives. But which, according to our patented scientific assessment system, will be the most stupid flight of all? Watch to find out! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose c...
Dec 25, 2024•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 243
For various BUSY WEEK reasons, we're slotting into a different spot this week so that we can all have a nice chat about the utterly bonkers year that was 2024... Tuesday at 7pm! As the last live show of the year, we're going back to #Railnatter basics and having an open Ask Me Anything session with a twist: it will be our first on-location live episode! Will it work? Join to find out! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose chang...
Dec 17, 2024•33 min•Ep. 242
I'm delighted that Luke Agbaimoni (a.k.a. @tubemapper ) is joining us once again to talk through a few images from his latest, stunning, book themed around contrast on the TfL system... It really is a treat, and we get stuck in as we've done for his previous two books! Luke's book is available here: https://amzn.eu/d/2AO6bna or you can pick up a signed copy here: https://tubemapper.com/tube-mapper-photo-books-1-2/ Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/gar...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 241
Before being unceremoniously ousted for no reason whatsoever, Louise Haigh's last act as Secretary of State for Transport was to announce her integrated national transport strategy, or at least that it would land in about a year's time. We'll read through the announcement, speculate on why she has been booted and what it might mean, and talk a bit about misogyny in the rail industry. Plus a bit of other news too, I'd imagine. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://pat...
Dec 04, 2024•58 min•Ep. 240
In what I expect to be a sobering but incredibly important episode, we will be picking up the Phase 2 Report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. We'll go through the events leading up to the disaster, and the many chances we had to avoid it happening. We'll look at the role of government, of the various building and housing regulators, of the private interests in testing and marketing the cladding products, and of the tenant management organisation. We'll also look at safety management and the oversi...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 239
I'm delighted to say we're joined this week by genuine Vancouverite Cariad Heather Keigher, who takes us on a tour of the SkyTrain and the messy history that created it. Don't worry though - it's actually very good! We chart the fall of the interurbans and the rise of this not-a-gadgetbahn system as it grew across the city, and consider what's next in store for Vancouver. There's a lot for us to learn, positive and negative, and it's all wrapped up in this week's episode. Enjoyed this? Please do...
Nov 20, 2024•2 hr 40 min•Ep. 238
Okay, so if by Crossrail we mean high capacity suburban rail - yes. And in this episode we'll look at exactly what that might look like for Sheffield and the wider South Yorkshire area. 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.
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 237
We've an awful lot of news to get through, not least the horrible budget from last week and the dismal election results in the US announced today. Those big stories aren't all of what we'll cover, though. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on that's worth us all talking about together! 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 ...
Nov 06, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 236
In October 2024, the supposedly left-leaning Resolution Foundation released a report into the role of electric cars and public transport in reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions to zero. The report was... awful. And in this episode, we'll pick through why via a traditional page-turn! 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 discu...
Oct 30, 2024•56 min•Ep. 235
In the third of our three-part miniseries on Ireland, we are joined by Iain (anoniaino on Twitter!) to talk about the what Ireland's railways are facing in the future! We've thought about the past and about what the issues are today, now we think about what is planned for the future, and if it is good enough! 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....
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 234
I'm delighted that Jack Fifield (formerly of the Bolton News) is joining us to talk about his story on Northern's ridiculous and damaging revenue protection policies, but also the wider mess that Britain's railway ticketing system is in, and ultimately how difficult a lack of investment in ticketing outside of London is making people's lives. It's a story of how much we get wrong as an industry, and of Britain's over-centralisation, and of annoying people who think all this is fine and the fault...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 233
We've been decrying the fact that the UK has crippled its own economy by imposing its own made up and entirely useless fiscal rules - in other words the rules on what it can and cannot borrow, and for what - for a long time. But the Office of Budget Responsibility (itself also pointless) has published a report suggesting these should change. Will they? Why might this government finally change them? Will this definitely be good? Tune in LIVE to find out! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supportin...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 232
Every now and then, we abandon trains and talk about something different, then by the end of the episode everyone gets to see how much the episode has actually been about trains the whole time. This is one of those times. The crash in 1989 of IDN 1851 is one of the aviation disasters that most grimly highlights how successive small factors can overlay to result in unavoidable calamity. It is critical to understanding systemic, widespread effects right down to seemingly innocuous human errors and...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 231
I'm hosting @RailEngineers 2024 tonight, so it's a quick news catch up pre-record... and the emerging theme is FARES. Plenty of other things to look over though. 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....
Sep 25, 2024•39 min•Ep. 230
They did it! Greens4HS2 finally swung the Green Party of England and Wales into having a viable stance on high speed rail, crucially meaning that the party can (a) hold Labour's feet to the fire properly on its rail investment plans or lack thereof and (b) it can actually comment on any transport or other investment policy at all without looking ridiculous. It has been a long time coming though, and I'm delighted to say we're joined by Emma Garnett, sustainability researcher at the University of...
Sep 18, 2024•2 hr 35 min•Ep. 229
Well this one's going to be a bit grim. We'll cover off some news before I open for questions on the Hendygate situation. Safety, accessibility, and the railway's attitude to both are under extremely uncomfortable public scrutiny now, and so far the industry has not stepped up, so to speak. The situation at Euston shows no sign of improving, and the Rail Minister, Peter Hendy, is still in post. What's next? Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdenn...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 228
In the second of what will definitely now be a three-part miniseries on Ireland, we are joined by Iain (anoniaino on Twitter!) to talk about the what Ireland's railways look like today... lining us up nicely for the next and final episode on what's next! 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...
Aug 28, 2024•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 227
Before the election, the UK Labour Party commissioned Juergen Maier to head a review into railways and urban transport strategy... And it was published literally today. So the hell with the original schedule, let's take a look and see if it proposes anything useful - and more importantly consider if it will be ignored by Rachel Reeves. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch ...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 226
In the first of (I think!) a two-part miniseries on Ireland, we are joined by Iain (anoniaino on Twitter!) to talk about the history of Ireland's railways and how we got to the system we have today. 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.
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 225
