#Railnatter

Latest Episodes:

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?

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

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

York to Hull: Yorkshire's crucial missing rail link? | #Railnatter 317 Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

This is it! We are building a new railway from York to Hull, looking at route options, stations, services and costs, and most importantly setting the railway into its local, regional and national context. We're LIVE so bring your thoughts, opinions and proposals!

Watch the first episode of the series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHYjemzb7rY

Why GBR's AI plan is a SHAMBLES | #Railnatter 316 Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

A year after being created, GBRX has done one thing: write a rail industry AI action plan. And it is absolutely shambolic.

It is also insightful about the direction Britain's railways are being taken in, and who is taking them there. Featuring: Amazon, Google, NVIDIA, OpenAI and... Palantir. It's grim, but it's important.

Read Cory Doctorow's essay: https://pluralistic.net/2026/08/01/dare-snot/#i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again

How Britain lost THOUSANDS of train services in 2026 | #Railnatter 315 Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Since 2020, Britain's railways have seen drastic cuts in timetabled services across much of the country. But what have these cuts done for overcrowding? How have they impacted on growth?

And which cities and operators are now chronically overcrowded? Thanks to MUCH DATA, we'll fling at high speed through a detailed picture of the railway that we have, and the railway that we need.

Read the NEF report here: https://neweconomics.org/2026/07/cutting-the-transport-cost-of-living

What Great British Railways should ACTUALLY be | #Railnatter 314 Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

We've had a change in leadership for the country, but not for transport, and that means that the creation of GBR continues unaltered. In an episode of two halves, we'll first look at what the IDEAL railway organisation looks like, and how it fits into the wider transport picture.

In the second half, we'll talk to Jo Grew, strategy director for GWR and NR Western, to understand what integrated operations like in practice, and remind ourselves: what is this all for?

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