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The BILLION POUND flaw on the Elizabeth Line | #Railnatter 303 Apr 08, 2026

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Last week, the Campaign for Level Boarding published its letter to the Old Oak Common project endorsing a non-standard platform height. But what's that about? And how does it link to Crossrail's most expensive and damaging design flaw?

Read the full Campaign for Level Boarding letter here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vs7rqv8utn1s9ne3kah36/CampaignForLevelBoarding_LetterRegardingOOC.pdf?rlkey=onqv8b9bk0qcslvn1unthfdwu&dl=1

Watch Philip explain the level boarding solution at OOC in more detail here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KryXjiUycZU

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

This train TRANSFORMED Britain’s railways | #Railnatter 302 Apr 01, 2026

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This week we are talking about Network Rail's PLPR train - the incredible and now pretty experienced train that put machine learning into practice in a way that makes today's AI boosters look more like hucksters than they already are. Alex Cusdin joins us to talk through the train and its tech, and tell the story of how it came into being.

Capturing an incredible 18TB of data a day, this train captures 70,000 photos a second to enable a very high resolution view of the track to automate and improve inspection, in the process making railways safer. This is an example, now well proven, of how technologies can be applied to make better use of skilled people, rather than displacing them. And it's about to be replaced.

Talking GBR, cost of living and Iran with TSSA’s Maryam Eslamdoust | #Railnatter 301 Mar 25, 2026

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In the first of a series of chats with political leaders who are shaping the mobility landscape in the UK, I was delighted to spend a long lunch with Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the TSSA. We talked about a range of subjects including union saturation into the consultancy world, the Iran war and its impacts on the cost of living, rail reform and GBR, as well as her current campaign on violence against transport workers.

Join our chat in the TSSA office and on a multi-train adventure in East London - with extra bits to follow in the bonus.

Head to Michael's @NetworkNewsUK for more on Liverpool Street station.

Transport in Leeds isn't working | #Railnatter 300 Mar 18, 2026

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10 hours, 22 locations and about 100 miles (probably) of travel later, and we've got a real feast of an episode to mark our 300th... Tonight, we rate ALL OF LEEDS for mobility using our patented science-based system: the PROCIV system. In doing so, we will consider the West Yorkshire mass transit plans and whether they are prioritising the right solutions.

We'll also drop a few bombshells, not least a reminder how much was spent on a pointless new bypass for part of Leeds in 2025!

Can we end Britain's boom and bust problem? | #Railnatter 299 Mar 11, 2026

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Back at the start of February, the UK's Transport Select Committee published its report into rail investment pipelines and how to end the boom and bust cycle that double prices and delays improvements... But is the report any good? Does it propose any useful solutions? Will government have any interest in doing anything it suggests?

It's a classic page-turn, and you can grab the report yourself, here: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8739/rail-investment-pipelines-ending-boom-and-bust/publications/

What links Speed, Warriors and Roger Rabbit? | #Railnatter 298 Mar 04, 2026

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Are there three movies that better define US transit culture better than Speed (1994), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and The Warriors (1979)? Probably not, if our guest this week is to be believed!

Because who could be better to guide us on this silver screen odyssey than Josh Boerman, co-host of @TheWorstOfAllPossibleWorlds and @IllConceived ? Nobody, that's who!

Justin Roczniak fixes Britain's railways | #Railnatter 297 Feb 25, 2026

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It's a delight to say we welcome back Justin Roczniak of @wtyppod fame as we sift through some local, national and international news and try to work out: WHAT IS GOING ON?

Can the Greens win the Gorton & Denton by-election? | #Railnatter 296 Feb 18, 2026

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This one's important. If the Greens win, it will end Starmer's short stint as PM and - as importantly - show that Reform are NOT the default winners at the next general election. But can they do it?

Transport is a key local issue in this byelection, and given its importance for communities and indeed the future of our democracy, it was time to create a new scoring system to help target where improvements need to be made: the PROCIV system. It's scientific - and it helps us see what improvements Gorton and Denton must see to make people's lives better.

Why the British rail industry is SO complicated | #Railnatter 295 Feb 11, 2026

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I'm joined by not one, not two but THREE guests tonight, as fellow rail industry employees Georgia Haslam, Kostas Kuklys and Katie Williams help demystify the immensely complicated British railway industry...

Find out more about this year's Rail Week here: https://www.railweek.com/

Here's how HS2 gives Birmingham a metro system | #Railnatter 294 Feb 04, 2026

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I've been teasing this one for ages, but we are finally looking at how HS2 gives Birmingham and the West Midlands a metro system, and what its wider suburban railway network COULD look like... Plus there's a bit of news.

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