Episodes
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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!
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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!
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Episodes manquant?
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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 of travellers. Perfect #Railnatter fodder!
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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!
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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 their relationship to each other and to safety outcomes. It also happened on my birthday. So it's a worthy episode (in all senses) for us to look at and consider in some detail.
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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.
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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 Oxford and key figure in G4HS2 and the wider GPEW. Her and the team worked extremely hard to make this change happen, and how they made this work is instructive for all of us who want to see policy change via grassroots activism. Not to be missed!
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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?
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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!
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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.
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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.
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I DID IT. I WROTE A BOOK. And as an exclusive for all you lovely viewers, you can Q&A me about it and anything else you can think of in this week's #Railnatter... Plus we'll cover a bit of news off.
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Post election, it's worth taking a look at the National Audit Office's latest report into High Speed 2 and the mess the previous government made of it.
With a new Labour government picking up the divine right to rule from Murdochs, Platts and Gerkos of the world, we've been launched headlong into 2010 austerity again - but what does this mean for HS2? Might they pick any of it back up again?
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Back in Episode 49, we looked at the broad plans for mass transit across West Yorkshire, centred on Leeds. Now, mayor Tracy Brabin has launched the consultation for the first two proposed routes, between Leeds and Bradford and from central Leeds southwards.
Are these proposals any good? Are they ambitious enough? Will they achieve sufficient modal shift? Let's take a look together.
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Okay, so I've been teasing this for a while now, and at last it is here... We are going to spend this week's episode talking about what a FINISHED high speed rail network for the UK and Ireland would look like. Not shared lines, but dedicated high speed lines built from new.
How does HS2 fit in? How might it link with HS1? What about Greengauge 21s "X" network? Scotland? You better believe that there will be much in the way of maps and CAD! All comments welcome... This won't be the last of these episodes, I would guess.
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Everyone voted! The Conservative Party are toast! Labour got fewer votes than in 2019 and the era of two party politics in the UK is over...
But what does this mean for transport and railways? What do we think of the government appointments that are pertinent to transport? This one will mostly be a Q&A!
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Well, with only a week left to go before the UK 2024 general election, which of the relevant* parties' manifestos is best for transport? We'll get them up side by side and have a close look at what is promised, how it compares to previous years and what it all might mean for the future.
Transport is only one part of the picture, though - the most important stance of any party is its position on social issues, in particular on issues for the most vulnerable groups in society. Why? Because these tell us what is in the heart of the party and the lens through which it will see all other issues. So we'll end by looking at the stance of the parties on one of the most important issues of the day: trans rights. And the result will tell us all we need to know about which party will be best for the country's future.
*The Scottish Greens, SNP and Plaid are relevant, sadly there's no time to include them. Meanwhile, if it's blue, it sucks.
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It's a short one, and I'm off on wanderings for the first time in a while... I'm sharing some thoughts on early railways and the need to push back on the oversimplified narratives associated with the Stockton and Darlington Railway and 1825 as a false date of the "start" of railways.
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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/
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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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