I often rant and rail about SUVs - you know, the cars designed to maximise the harm they cause to other road users - but what is the data behind the proliferation of these hugely damaging vehicles. Why are so many being sold? What are some of the consequences? Thankfully, an actual expert is joining us this week to dive into the numbers - Ralph Palmer is the UK electric vehicles and fleet lead officer for Europe's leading sustainable transport NGO, Transport & Environment. I'm excited to chat to him! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdenni ..read more

This week we've the pleasure of welcoming back Bessie Matthews, train driver, author, illustrator, columnist and all-round railway industry treasure. In her career so far, she's navigated a good slice of the rail industry, and so we'll take the chance to explore her story so far and see what she's learned... Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at   / 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 ..read more

After our first pause in four years, 200+ episodes, 280 hours and countless guests, we're back again (we only skipped three weeks!)... And I'm very pleased to welcome Robin Davis onto the show to talk all things Designing New Trains. Robin has presided over the introduction of several new intercity train fleets over successive generations of rolling stock design, and there's not a lot about designing trains that he doesn't know - so who better to quiz with all of your questions? See you all LIVE on the 27th! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at   / garethde ..read more

The UK government have finally published their plans for Great British Railways, or rather, the hollow shell of the original proposals, now called the Integrated Rail Body. If it's anything like the Integrated Rail Plan, we are in for trouble. Much as these plans are intended not to be enacted, the likelihood is that Labour will pick them up and deliver them largely intact, so it actually is worth us digging into them. We can also learn what a better structure might look like by picking through everything that is broken with these proposals, too. So all in all this should be a really useful ep ..read more

CalTrain are pressing ahead with their completely bizarre obsession with hydrogen as a means of powering commuter and intercity trains. It is completely baffling. And it isn't the only nonsense that's been going down over the last few weeks! Join us as we chat about ROSCO profits, devolved mayors talking big, Euston station's big horrible LED billboard, London Overground's new line names, corruption on Greece's railways, progress on Levenmouth's rail link and a quick mention of the demise of Great British Railways (more next week)... Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at h ..read more

A much requested topic - we are going to dive into the waters of when British Rail ran boats (ships) in the form of British Rail Shipping and International Services, then Sealink UK, then Sealink British Ferries, then Stena Sealink Line, then Stena Line, then... Well, you get the picture. We'll try to demystify things. If you like boats (ships), arguably the trains of the sea, then this is the episode for you! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at   / garethdennis   or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://ga ..read more

Why is the railway network in the North so abysmal? Well, a lot of it comes down to a rather dismal series of bad policy decisions made through the 1990s and 2000s inflicted by - you guessed it - the over-centralised UK government. Constant cancellations of previous projects has led us to the point where the current "TRU" is only going to finish delivering its outputs in the 2030s, over 50 years after the project was originally mooted. This week, we'll look at that history and working out where things could have been done differently... Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter a ..read more

There's plenty of news to catch up on, but the big question we'll be answering this episode is "are track defects a particular problem on the Great Western?" - and we'll answer this by looking at data freely available on the @office-of-rail-and-road's online data portal, accessible here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/ Join LIVE to find out the answer and to pitch in! 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 ..read more

This has been much requested given the number of viewers from Ireland - to warm us up in advance of the release of the All Ireland Strategic Rail Review at some point in Spring, I thought we'd flick through the consultation paper (which is really good!) as well as getting our heads around the geography of the island of Ireland. We'll use our patented* population network method to work out what the ideal railway system should look like, as well as considering the suburban needs of the big cities. There will be maps! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com ..read more

It's our official 200th episode! How have we got here?! To celebrate, I'm running back through the previous episodes since the Episode 100 round-up - but this time not in running order. We'll group episodes with common themes to see if we can remember what we learnt - and if we've learnt anything new since... Watch the Episode 100 round-up:    • #RailNatter | Episode 100: Every epis...   Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at   / garethdennis   or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/g ..read more