Northern Powerhouse Rail has been announced by government, again, and this time what's being proposed is even more nebulous than last time... If we ignore Network North, that is. We dig into the details to understand what is being promised, what is new (if anything) and what we've been left since the 2020 high point in UK railway aspirations. Read the full government release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/northern-growth-strategy-case-for-change/northern-growth-strategy-case-fo...
Jan 14, 2026•52 min•Ep. 290
On 6 September 2024, a freight train derailed over a bridge in Audenshaw in Greater Manchester. At the end of 2025, the RAIB published their report into the crash, looking in detail at the sequence of failures that let to this event. It lays out a series of mistakes and engineering limitations that force us to look more closely at the way we run our railway and train our engineers. Download the @railaccidentinvestigationb7617 report here: https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/report-10-slash-2025-dera...
Jan 07, 2026•59 min•Ep. 289
We've reached the end of 2025! It's been an extremely difficult year across the board, with some points of light dotted around for nourishment, but I wanted to end with some hope. Also with a bridge collapsing on my head. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways
Dec 31, 2025•38 min•Ep. 288
Merry Christmas! Raise a glass to all the folk out there this holiday season prodding, building and generally messing about with railways in the freezing cold. It's a brief, last minute news filler episode really - and we'll cover a few things including West Yorkshire mass transit delays, two Slovak trains playing chicken on the same track and negging the IEA. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord....
Dec 24, 2025•18 min•Ep. 287
This week I'm delighted to say that we are joined by Poggy Murray Whitham joining us to talk about moving from the technical to the human side of engineering, abuse, threats, hate - and how to overcome them by thinking about psychological safety as rigorously as we think about physical safety. Last time we spoke was in "my" tent at Rail Live, so I've been looking forward to this! Pick up Poggy's book here: https://www.poggymurraywhitham.com/ Watch the TEDx talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watc...
Dec 17, 2025•54 min•Ep. 286
They did it! Or rather, they did... something! The "new" identity of Great British Railways was released yesterday to noises resembling moisture purped through polyester. Alas, it wasn't the wondrous fanfare this ailing government were expecting, but it also isn't a total disaster. Plus it's a whoops all news episode - and who better to join than long time friend of the show, @JenOnTheMove ! Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in th...
Dec 10, 2025•59 min•Ep. 285
York is broken - traffic is knackered and the city, with its wonderful medieval core and rivers, barely reaches a fraction of its potential as a result. It turns out there's a fix though - and it involves LEARNING FROM OTHER PLACES! Shock/horror/etc. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways...
Dec 03, 2025•37 min•Ep. 284
Chris Brownbill (https://railmaps.com.au/) has taken over! With Melbourne's Metro Tunnel - their Crossrail - opening this weekend, it is as good a time as any to get to know Melbourne's public transport that bit better... Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways
Nov 26, 2025•31 min•Ep. 283
It's time for the PWI (the Permanent Way Institution) - my beloved professional institution, the best of the lot, and one I'm immensely proud of - to change its name. And you can make it happen. Find out more at: https://www.thepwi.org/about/our-next-chapter Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways...
Nov 19, 2025•42 min•Ep. 282
We need a laugh (?) so this week we are going through a report written by Professor John Hibbs for the IEA (the bad one) nearly twenty years ago, and twenty years after Britain's buses were deregulated outside of London and proceeded to be completely decimated, where they weren't engaging in outright urban combat. In its pages, we see why he and the IEA maniacs think that deregulation was great, and why moving away from it would be a disaster. As the architect of deregulation, Hibbs was (RIP) a ...
Nov 12, 2025•52 min•Ep. 281
Yesterday, the UK Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander deposited the Railways Bill in the House of Commons. Does this actually mean anything? Not yet, not least as quite a lot of important stuff about the future of Britain's railways isn't in this document at all, but it does help clarify the direction of travel, if not the destination. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.u...
Nov 05, 2025•45 min•Ep. 280
Back in June the Stewart Review suggested a series of reasons why Britain's embryonic domestic high speed railway line was tripping over its shoelaces. Today, we dig into that report, with the usual useful context on its author and its subject matter. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways...
Oct 29, 2025•51 min•Ep. 279
You've been asking for this one for a long time - YES, the airports episode is finally here! Which of the UK's 32 mainland airports (including on the island of Ireland) deserve to survive into the 2040s, and which must CLOSE? Tune in to find out! Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways
Oct 22, 2025•50 min•Ep. 278
A city I love and have travelled to many times for a decade now - Belgrade is a melting pot of culture, art and architecture, food and fun. And yet it is being poisoned by corruption, greed and car dominance. The result is a dying city - and a warning to the UK, given our cities are taking exactly the same trajectory. (don't worry about the hallelujah chorus after the Graun extract slides) Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the ...
Oct 15, 2025•53 min•Ep. 277
Following a wee hiatus from host knackeredness syndrome, we're back! And we're returning to our roots by talking all about British Rail's Advanced Passenger Train, and the corporate nonsense that took APT's tilting technology via about a dozen legal entities to slap it straight into the replacement Acela fleet this year! We also answer the question: was the Pendolino just the APT sold back to us? Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join ...
Oct 08, 2025•40 min•Ep. 276
In the second of our episodes focusing on disabled travel, we look at NCAT's latest report on the overall picture for accessible transport in the UK. It's not a rosy picture. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways
Sep 17, 2025•38 min•Ep. 275
With ScotRail announcing that their new fleet procurement will include level "access" as well as a key report being published on progress with transport accessibility, it's the right time to revisit Episode 31 and see what progress has been made - and it is actually good news! Disability ARK links here: https://linktr.ee/disabilityark Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can als...
Sep 10, 2025•34 min•Ep. 274
We're back! And we're doing some classic network analysis, this time for Devon and Cornwall. I knew this one would be hard, but making this network make sense is extremely tricky! In any case, we'll list off 10 railway projects the region needs, think about why and what they might look like in more detail. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailways...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 273
We're joined by Daisy from newly-formed ProCab Simulators as she tells us the tale of taking a bunch of bits, wires and programmes and turning them from a fire hazard into a working - and ACCESSIBLE - train cab that works with off-the-shelf train simulator games. It's a story of knowledge, networks, determination, ADHD and the rail industry stepping up! Plus a bit of news that's worth catching up with, including Czech driverless trains and the Messina Strait. To support Daisy's continuing projec...
Aug 13, 2025•50 min•Ep. 272
My visit to the New Hall at Locomotion in Shildon is FINALLY WITH YOU. See why I think this is the best bit of the whole railway museum, including York... Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways
Aug 06, 2025•32 min•Ep. 271
It's the second half of our chat with the wonderful Chris Brownbill, and this time we are looking to the future. Urban and high speed rail plans feature! Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways
Jul 23, 2025•57 min•Ep. 270
One of the most severely and regularly gridlocked regional bottlenecks in Scotland sits slap bang on the top of Fort William, and in doing so it is throttling the life out of the town and surrounding communities. Plans to fix this are now in development, so in readiness for looking at those, we consider what options are available, and work out how to save the Highlands' biggest town in the process. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Joi...
Jul 16, 2025•40 min•Ep. 269
The Department for Transport has published the list of projects that it is progressing, and those it is putting on ice... We take a look at the 50 projects that made it. See the full list here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/green-light-for-over-50-road-and-rail-upgrades-supporting-over-39000-new-homes-and-42000-jobs Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book ...
Jul 09, 2025•48 min•Ep. 268
Transport for Wales recently released their plan for a public transport network for North Wales, and it is actually very good. We'll take a look, and pick out why Westminster is incapable of delivering this sort of strategic thinking. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussion at https://discord.railnatter.uk. You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways
Jul 02, 2025•45 min•Ep. 267
A couple of major things to cover this week that will set the direction of the UK economy for... a bit. Until this government changes their mind again. Those are: the new Industrial Strategy, and the Comprehensive Spending Review from earlier this month. Both talking about where money will - or indeed will not - be spent to make the country work better. And we are taking a closer look. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the...
Jun 25, 2025•48 min•Ep. 266
Readers of The Book will know that, pre-hot war (we'll get there), Russia's railways were ranked the best in the world by modal share. But how? And what does this look like? Who better to join us than the UK's official* vibes ambassador to Russia, Milo Edwards? Nobody, that's who. Milo lifts the lid on his experiences as we work out what's good, bad and weird about Russia's railways. Milo's website is here: https://www.miloedwards.co.uk/ Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. M...
Jun 18, 2025•44 min•Ep. 265
Chris Brownbill (https://railmaps.com.au/) joins us this week to take us on a quick jaunt through the history of Australia's railways - in the process busting a few myths, talking about a major tragedy and helping explain how the Aussie railways nearly beat Japan on the Top Twenty national railway list... Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord. You can also buy my book #HowTh...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 264
This week we are looking at the proposals of the Liverpool-Manchester Railway Board, the collective of combined and local authorities across the north west of England wanting to finish off the Manchester bits of HS2 as well as the western end of whatever the trans-Pennine high speed line is called today. We'll also be talking about Great British Railways and its latest hint at branding in our new, as-yet unnamed back-end segment! Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at ...
Jun 04, 2025•50 min•Ep. 263
The role of open access operations - you know: Hull Trains, Grand Central, Lumo, Go-Op - is one I've been dancing around in #Railnatter for a long while, but I'm hoping tonight to take a reasonably exhaustive look at the cases for and against... We'll be looking at two documents to do this: firstly, First Group's January 2025 paper making their case in favour of open access, and secondly the recently leaked memo looking at the financial cost to the incumbent operator of open access services on t...
May 28, 2025•48 min•Ep. 262
The wonderful, erudite and incisive Victoria Scott - that's right, my @wtyppod nemesis - is joining us this week for what will I already know will be one of our all-time greats. Why are driverless cars still being pushed onto an unwilling public, three-quarters of a century after the first trials? What's the real reason for adding a near-literal tonne of sensors and high technology to the simple automobile? Why will driverless cars never functionally exist? All questions Victoria is the perfect ...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 261
