#Railnatter

Latest Episodes:

What Do We Know About The Urda Rail Crash? | #Railnatter 327 Oct 28, 2026

Show notes

Today's original plans have been put on hold (we'll cover the budget in tonight's #BONUS) because of the horrendous high speed rail crash in Spain, near the town of Urda.

I'll be answering your questions, talking through what we do know so far, and crucially describing how to pick through the rabid misinformation that seems to accompany these incidents.

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

Labour have CANCELLED Bradford's new station | #Railnatter 326 Oct 21, 2026

Show notes

Tonight is an episode of two halves... First, we'll ask the question: is there anything Tracy Brabin won't let Westminster cancel and dress up as a good news story? So far the answer is no, as Bradford just had its new through station at the already agreed St James site cancelled.

Second, we're opening up the London Assembly's report into driverless taxis. Driverless vehicles don't exist and never will, yet we are already seeing cities making concessions to the tech industry. Will the London Assembly see through the investor hype?

Plus there's a few bits of other news to catch up on.

This Is How Leeds Gets A Metro | #Railnatter 325 Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

Copenhagen and Leeds are basically comparable cities - except that Copenhagen has twice the GDP of Leeds. Why? Because it has a functioning, integrated transport system with a proper metro as its beating heart. Leeds has none of that, and it shows. But what should West Yorkshire's Weaver Metro really look like? Spoiler alert: not trams.

This one's going to be a visual feast. Not to be missed.

Go back and watch Episode 300: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKIKp9kzTmQ

The GB Rolling Stock Strategy Misses The Mark | #Railnatter 324 Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

We've a lot to get through tonight, with news and updates galore, including new seats, new services, the collapse of what3words, Brightline's bankruptcy and so much more... But at the heart of tonight's episode is a page-turn of the new GBR rolling stock and infrastructure strategy, released last month to tremendous fanfare. There's some very good stuff in it that we'll flag, but does it take us any further forwards? Tune in to find out.

How Treasury Broke Britain: The History of PFI (Part 1) | #Railnatter 323 Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

In the first of an EPIC two-parter, I'm delighted to say that Britain's best podcaster November Kelly will be joining us to tell the story of PFI, how it was thrust upon an unwilling public by about six guys, how it is completely intertwined with the story of UK transport engineering and how the Treasury used it to completely break Britain.**Audio level issues will be fixed in Part 2, blame the ADHD host**Find EVERYTHING Nova here: http://novemberkel.ly/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

Why This Beautiful Main Line Is A Mess | #Railnatter 322 Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

The East Coast Main Line between Newcastle and Edinburgh is possibly the most beautiful mainline in Britain, but from an operational perspective, it’s a mess. It might not be as slow as you think, but thanks to heavy usage by intercity services, the local stations suffer – indeed, this section of railway has some of Britain’s least used railway stations on it.But what can we do to fix it? this evening, that’s exactly what we’ll be looking at in all the detail you’ve come to expect. Oh, and we'll explain why Reston and East Linton stations were built wrong.NE bus consultation here: https://betterbusesne.org.uk/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

Are We Headed For Another Railtrack Crisis? | #Railnatter 321 Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

The Lewes and Wickford derailments have been confirmed as being triggered by track buckles. But what has led us to the point where two trains can derail in two days? How have we let our track condition across the country get so poor? And why is Hendy involved again?

Can California's long term rail plan fix HSR? | #Railnatter 320 Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

California High Speed Rail is stumbling onwards, and we'll be catching up with progress as best as we can. However, tonight's main feature will be a run through of the 2024 state rail plan to see if HSR is being set into its wider transportation context in a way that might avoid the worst failures of High Speed 2 in the UK.

Will the Washington Metro extension work? | #Railnatter 319 Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

Tonight, Gareth is looking over the proposed Washington extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro to see if it works, and what to look out for as the proposals develop. We'll go through a short history of the system and think about the wider integrated transport context. Also: there's news to catch up on!

Respond to the consultation with your thoughts here: https://bit.ly/metwash

CrossCountry Trains Cannot Be Saved | #Railnatter 318 Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

By pure chance, the entirety of the CrossCountry Trains service fell over the weekend just gone, cancelling countless services and exporting disruption across the network. But this failure is just the tip of the iceberg. Tonight, we look at what is broken at CrossCountry and how a new fleet of trains could solve many of the problems. However, the biggest question we will tackle is: should we destroy the CrossCountry operation altogether?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

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