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#Railnatter

Gareth Dennis

The world's leading independent railway podcast. Join award-winning rail engineer Gareth Dennis and many guests talking about all things TRAINS and TRANSPORT. #Railnatter goes out LIVE every Wednesday at 8pm, UK time, with the audio podcast following on all common platforms.

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  • 26 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 56 min
  • English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • April 1 · 58 min

    This train TRANSFORMED Britain’s railways | #Railnatter 302

    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. 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

  • March 25 · 53 min

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

    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. 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

  • March 18 · 1 hr 18 min

    Transport in Leeds isn't working | #Railnatter 300

    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! 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

  • March 11 · 58 min

    Can we end Britain's boom and bust problem? | #Railnatter 299

    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/ 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

  • March 4 · 1 hr 8 min

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

    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! 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

  • February 25 · 1 hr 8 min

    Justin Roczniak fixes Britain's railways | #Railnatter 297

    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? 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

Showing 21–26 of 26 episodes