#Railnatter
Episodes
The BILLION POUND flaw on the Elizabeth Line | #Railnatter 303
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 tha...
This train TRANSFORMED Britain’s railways | #Railnatter 302
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Talking GBR, cost of living and Iran with TSSA’s Maryam Eslamdoust | #Railnatter 301
25 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Transport in Leeds isn't working | #Railnatter 300
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Can we end Britain's boom and bust problem? | #Railnatter 299
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 bus...
What links Speed, Warriors and Roger Rabbit? | #Railnatter 298
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Are there three movies that better define US transit culture better than Speed (1994), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and The Warriors (1979)? Probabl...
Justin Roczniak fixes Britain's railways | #Railnatter 297
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 w...
Can the Greens win the Gorton & Denton by-election? | #Railnatter 296
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Why the British rail industry is SO complicated | #Railnatter 295
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 demys...
Here's how HS2 gives Birmingham a metro system | #Railnatter 294
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
The trans woman who gave us model railways | #Railnatter 293
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard of Lillian "Curly" Lawrence? Get comfy for a story of genius, wit, charm and tragedy - and of a transgender woman who shaped the model ...
Here's how the Spanish rail crash unfolded | #Railnatter 292
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday, two trains collided near Adamuz in Spain in an appalling, extremely unlikely and hugely tragic crash, which so far has claimed the lives of...
What is the actual Northern Powerhouse Rail plan? | #Railnatter 291
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Northern Powerhouse Rail has been announced by government, again, and this time what's being proposed is even more nebulous than last time... If we ig...
The Audenshaw rail crash | #Railnatter 290
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On 6 September 2024, a freight train derailed over a bridge in Audenshaw in Greater Manchester. At the end of 2025, the RAIB published their report in...
Structural collapse, and what to do about it | #Railnatter 289
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've reached the end of 2025! It's been an extremely difficult year across the board, with some points of light dotted around for nourishment, but I ...
What bits of railway are being built over Christmas? | #Railnatter 288
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas! Raise a glass to all the folk out there this holiday season prodding, building and generally messing about with railways in the freez...
Why diversity and inclusion policies aren't enough | #Railnatter 287
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week I'm delighted to say that we are joined by Poggy Murray Whitham joining us to talk about moving from the technical to the human side of engi...
The definitive verdict on Great British Railways’ new look - with JenOnTheMove | #Railnatter 286
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
They did it! Or rather, they did... something! The "new" identity of Great British Railways was released yesterday to noises resembling moisture purpe...
The Secret To Fixing York's Traffic Problems | #Railnatter 285
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
York is broken - traffic is knackered and the city, with its wonderful medieval core and rivers, barely reaches a fraction of its potential as a resul...
Melbourne’s trains - with Chris Brownbill | #Railnatter 284
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Brownbill (https://railmaps.com.au/) has taken over! With Melbourne's Metro Tunnel - their Crossrail - opening this weekend, it is as good a tim...
The PWI has to change its name | #Railnatter 283
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for the PWI (the Permanent Way Institution) - my beloved professional institution, the best of the lot, and one I'm immensely proud of - to ...
The man who destroyed Britain's buses | #Railnatter 282
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We need a laugh (?) so this week we are going through a report written by Professor John Hibbs for the IEA (the bad one) nearly twenty years ago, and ...
Everything you need to know about the Railways Bill | #Railnatter 281
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday, the UK Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander deposited the Railways Bill in the House of Commons. Does this actually mean anythi...
The real reason HS2 died | #Railnatter 280
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in June the Stewart Review suggested a series of reasons why Britain's embryonic domestic high speed railway line was tripping over its shoelaces...
British airports that have got to go | #Railnatter 279
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You've been asking for this one for a long time - YES, the airports episode is finally here! Which of the UK's 32 mainland airports (including on the ...
The city that’s choking itself to death | #Railnatter 278
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A city I love and have travelled to many times for a decade now - Belgrade is a melting pot of culture, art and architecture, food and fun. And yet it...
How British Rail gave us the USA’s newest high speed train | #Railnatter 277
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Following a wee hiatus from host knackeredness syndrome, we're back! And we're returning to our roots by talking all about British Rail's Advanced Pas...
The five reasons UK transport fails disabled people | #Railnatter 276
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of our episodes focusing on disabled travel, we look at NCAT's latest report on the overall picture for accessible transport in the UK. ...
This campaign made railways better for everyone | #Railnatter 275
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With ScotRail announcing that their new fleet procurement will include level "access" as well as a key report being published on progress with transpo...
10 new railways to fix Devon and Cornwall | #Railnatter 274
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're back! And we're doing some classic network analysis, this time for Devon and Cornwall. I knew this one would be hard, but making this network ma...
How to build your own train simulator | #Railnatter 273
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're joined by Daisy from newly-formed ProCab Simulators as she tells us the tale of taking a bunch of bits, wires and programmes and turning them fr...
An engineer's tour of the Railway Museum's New Hall | #Railnatter 272
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
My visit to the New Hall at Locomotion in Shildon is FINALLY WITH YOU. See why I think this is the best bit of the whole railway museum, including Yor...
Australia's surprising rail transformation story - with Chris Brownbill | #Railnatter 271
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's the second half of our chat with the wonderful Chris Brownbill, and this time we are looking to the future. Urban and high speed rail plans featu...
This Scottish town is a nightmare | #Railnatter 270
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most severely and regularly gridlocked regional bottlenecks in Scotland sits slap bang on the top of Fort William, and in doing so it is th...
Railways we desperately need, cancelled in favour of roads | #Railnatter 269
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Department for Transport has published the list of projects that it is progressing, and those it is putting on ice... We take a look at the 50 pro...
How North Wales will demolish car dependency | #Railnatter 268
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Transport for Wales recently released their plan for a public transport network for North Wales, and it is actually very good. We'll take a look, and ...
Why the UK economy will continue to fail | #Railnatter 267
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A couple of major things to cover this week that will set the direction of the UK economy for... a bit. Until this government changes their mind again...
Russia's railways WERE the best in the world - with Milo Edwards | #Railnatter 266
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Readers of The Book will know that, pre-hot war (we'll get there), Russia's railways were ranked the best in the world by modal share. But how? And wh...
A history of Australia’s railways - with Chris Brownbill | #Railnatter 265
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Brownbill (https://railmaps.com.au/) joins us this week to take us on a quick jaunt through the history of Australia's railways - in the process...
Burnham is key to northern high speed rail network | #Railnatter 264
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are looking at the proposals of the Liverpool-Manchester Railway Board, the collective of combined and local authorities across the north...
The cases for and against open access rail operators | #Railnatter 263
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The role of open access operations - you know: Hull Trains, Grand Central, Lumo, Go-Op - is one I've been dancing around in #Railnatter for a long whi...
Driverless Cars Are Pointless - with Victoria Scott | #Railnatter 261
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The wonderful, erudite and incisive Victoria Scott - that's right, my @wtyppod nemesis - is joining us this week for what will I already know will...
How not to do feasibility studies | #Railnatter 261
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're looking at the proposals for a new line connecting the North Wales Main Line and the Cambrian Coast Line between Bangor and Afon Wen... Are the ...
Starline's high speed rail "plans" for Europe | #Railnatter 260
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of another two-parter, we look at some rather meaningless and silly plans for a high speed rail network that I can't quite categorise bet...
Labour are out of ideas already | #Railnatter 259
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's a news episode! And as ever we've got loads to catch up on, not least Labour and the Prime Minister's supine desperation in using precisely the s...
Data, maps and how to use them (with Will Deakin) | #Railnatter 258
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wondered how you develop and deploy a new timetable? Or how to map flows of humans across regions, countries and continents? Well this is the pri...
Designing Glasgow a metro system | #Railnatter 257
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's the second half of the two-parter you all wanted in one go last week! Yes - this time we get to the good stuff. Maps. And using them to see what ...
Clyde Metro? Glasgow must think bigger | #Railnatter 256
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I've been promising this one for a while - what should Glasgow be doing about its urban mobility? What about the Glasgow Subway? Crossing the Clyde? W...
#Railnatter Episode 255: Goodbye USAID, hello China (and much more railway geopolitics)
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whilst there's plenty of local news for us to pick through, I wanted to focus this week's episode on how railways are becoming sharply relevant in the...
#Railnatter Episode 254: Urban transport in Dubai (and what’s stupid about a lot of it)
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the World Government Summit in early 2025, Dubai's city leaders revealed the latest nonsense they were putting their mobility hopes and dreams into...
#Railnatter Episode 253: The (draft) Mid Wales Regional Transport Plan
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Given it's our fifth anniversary, how better to celebrate than to look at and think about rural Welsh transport and what to do about it? Cue the music...
#Railnatter Episode 252: What we must learn from the Grenfell Tower disaster (2)
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in Episode 240 we looked in detail at the corruption, callousness and incompetence that led to the deaths of seventy people in the fire in Grenfe...
#Railnatter Episode 251: The Future of Cities (keeping an eye on urban trends)
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cities are extremely important, despite only one of them getting much meaningful attention in the UK. Network Rail and WPI Economics have pulled toget...
#Railnatter Episode 250: The little station that defeated Westminster
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate our reaching 250 episodes, I thought I'd tell the tale of the little railway station that rebelled against Westminster's swinging axe and...
#Railnatter Episode 249: Heathrow's Third Runway and other economic disasters
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Well, they did it. Where the Conservatives blocked it from being built, Labour have in fact waved it through, in a move that will set back both the UK...
#Railnatter Episode 248: What should the Scottish railway map look like? 2
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Way back in Episode 65 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2v846_jqwc), we took a network development look at the Scottish railway map, but we didn't re...
#Railnatter Episode 247: A look at Scotland's draft Islands Connectivity Review
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a couple of Scotland episodes, we're thinking about ISLANDS and how the hell to get to them in a way that's sustainable by all definit...
#Railnatter Episode 246: A page-turn through the English devolution white paper
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we are taking a close look at the UK government's white paper on English devolution... Back in Episode 105 with Jon Stone, we talked in det...
#Railnatter Episode 245: Is there any reason to be cheerful about the future?
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
2024 was dismal, for me and for lots of other people too... But 2025 brings us a wealth of opportunities for shaping our railways and the wider world ...
#Railnatter Episode 244: Ten Of The Most Pointless US Regional Flights That Should Be Trains
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of what I hope will be a format we can exploit long into the future, Tom Pain (host of @tenthousandlossespodcast4026) joins us to talk ab...
#Railnatter Episode 243: What a year 2024 was! (an on-location live AMA)
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For various BUSY WEEK reasons, we're slotting into a different spot this week so that we can all have a nice chat about the utterly bonkers year that ...
#Railnatter Episode 242: Contrast on the London Underground
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm delighted that Luke Agbaimoni (a.k.a. @tubemapper) is joining us once again to talk through a few images from his latest, stunning, book themed ar...
#Railnatter Episode 241: An Integrated National Transport Strategy?
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Before being unceremoniously ousted for no reason whatsoever, Louise Haigh's last act as Secretary of State for Transport was to announce her integrat...
#Railnatter Episode 240: What we must learn from the Grenfell Tower disaster
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In what I expect to be a sobering but incredibly important episode, we will be picking up the Phase 2 Report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. We'll go t...
#Railnatter Episode 239: Vancouver's SkyTrain and what we can learn from it
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm delighted to say we're joined this week by genuine Vancouverite Cariad Heather Keigher, who takes us on a tour of the SkyTrain and the messy histo...
#Railnatter Episode 238: How a Sheffield Crossrail would boost South Yorkshire
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, so if by Crossrail we mean high capacity suburban rail - yes. And in this episode we'll look at exactly what that might look like for Sheffield ...
#Railnatter Episode 237: Bad budget, worse election (it's a news ep/struggle sesh)
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We've an awful lot of news to get through, not least the horrible budget from last week and the dismal election results in the US announced today. Tho...
#Railnatter Episode 236: Are cars really the future of green transport? (NO!)
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In October 2024, the supposedly left-leaning Resolution Foundation released a report into the role of electric cars and public transport in reducing U...
#Railnatter Episode 235: Ireland's railways 3. What about the future?
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the third of our three-part miniseries on Ireland, we are joined by Iain (anoniaino on Twitter!) to talk about the what Ireland's railways are faci...
#Railnatter Episode 234: Britain's dismal rail tickets
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm delighted that Jack Fifield (formerly of the Bolton News) is joining us to talk about his story on Northern's ridiculous and damaging revenue prot...
#Railnatter Episode 233: Changing the UK's useless fiscal rules
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We've been decrying the fact that the UK has crippled its own economy by imposing its own made up and entirely useless fiscal rules - in other words t...
#Railnatter Episode 232: The crash of Independent Air Flight 1851
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every now and then, we abandon trains and talk about something different, then by the end of the episode everyone gets to see how much the episode has...
#Railnatter Episode 231: Fares unfair (it's a news ep)
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm hosting @RailEngineers 2024 tonight, so it's a quick news catch up pre-record... and the emerging theme is FARES. Plenty of other things to look o...
#Railnatter Episode 230: How to change minds and ingratiate people
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
They did it! Greens4HS2 finally swung the Green Party of England and Wales into having a viable stance on high speed rail, crucially meaning that the ...
#Railnatter Episode 229: Euston, safety, and Hendy's legacy
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Well this one's going to be a bit grim. We'll cover off some news before I open for questions on the Hendygate situation. Safety, accessibility, and t...
#Railnatter Episode 228: Ireland's railways 2. Thoughts on the present
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of what will definitely now be a three-part miniseries on Ireland, we are joined by Iain (anoniaino on Twitter!) to talk about the what ...
#Railnatter Episode 227: Labour's pre-election rail and urban transit review
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Before the election, the UK Labour Party commissioned Juergen Maier to head a review into railways and urban transport strategy... And it was publishe...
#Railnatter Episode 226: Ireland's railways 1. A potted history
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of (I think!) a two-part miniseries on Ireland, we are joined by Iain (anoniaino on Twitter!) to talk about the history of Ireland's rail...
#Railnatter Episode 225: How The Railways Will Fix The Future
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I DID IT. I WROTE A BOOK. And as an exclusive for all you lovely viewers, you can Q&A me about it and anything else you can think of in this week'...
#Railnatter Episode 224: What's left of HS2? (a flick through the latest NAO report)
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Post election, it's worth taking a look at the National Audit Office's latest report into High Speed 2 and the mess the previous government made of it...
#Railnatter Episode 223: West Yorkshire mass transit (reviewing the consultation plans)
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Back in Episode 49, we looked at the broad plans for mass transit across West Yorkshire, centred on Leeds. Now, mayor Tracy Brabin has launched the co...
#Railnatter Episode 222: A high speed rail network for the UK and Ireland
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, so I've been teasing this for a while now, and at last it is here... We are going to spend this week's episode talking about what a FINISHED hig...
#Railnatter Episode 221: The 2024 General Election Special Edition No. 2
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone voted! The Conservative Party are toast! Labour got fewer votes than in 2019 and the era of two party politics in the UK is over... But what ...
#Railnatter Episode 220: The 2024 General Election Special Edition No. 1
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Well, with only a week left to go before the UK 2024 general election, which of the relevant* parties' manifestos is best for transport? We'll get the...
#Railnatter Episode 219: A short word or two on early railways
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's a short one, and I'm off on wanderings for the first time in a while... I'm sharing some thoughts on early railways and the need to push back on ...
#Railnatter Episode 218: What four years of rail reform has delivered
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the election approaching, we do a page-turn of the Public Accounts Committee's report into rail reform in Britain, as published back in May. Six ...
#Railnatter Episode 217: Everything we can say about Haxby station
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, a cheeky local one this week, amongst some news... Haxby station is looking increasingly likely to appear in the next few years, so let's talk a...
#Railnatter Episode 216: What to do about rail in the West Midlands
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're jumping back in time to October 2022, and flicking through Network Rail's strategic advice for the West Midlands and the urban area around Birmi...
#Railnatter Episode 215: How to tip trains over on purpose (with equations)
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's a proper techy one this week, and we're talking all things CANT or SUPERELEVATION. What is it? Why do we need it? Why don't we need it? All your ...
#Railnatter Episode 214: Finishing The Borders Railway (with maps and routes)
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This one has been in the pipeline a while... Should we reopen the full Waverley Route from Tweedbank south to Carlisle? No! We shouldn't! I'll explain...
#Railnatter Episode 213: Labour Will* Nationalise Rail (a Getting Britain Moving page-turn)
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Well, our original plans are out the window as Labour decided to publish their plans for Britain's railways. We have no choice but to go through them....
#Railnatter Episode 212: How To Fix Buses In Wales (looking at the TfW plan)
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's a Wales episode! AND it's a bus episode! When I talk about Wales being way out ahead of the rest of the UK when it comes to integrating its trans...
#Railnatter Episode 211: Britain's SUV problem
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 p...
#Railnatter Episode 210: Joby Aviation Will* Save Us (and other nonsense)
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As ever, quite a lot has happened since we last caught up with the news... Not least that vapourware VTOL grifters Joby Aviation have convinced the Br...
#Railnatter Episode 209: How To Become A Freight Train Driver
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we've the pleasure of welcoming back Bessie Matthews, train driver, author, illustrator, columnist and all-round railway industry treasure. ...
#Railnatter Episode 208: Everything You Wanted To Know About New Trains
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 pl...
#Railnatter Episode 207: What is to become of Great British Railways?
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The UK government have finally published their plans for Great British Railways, or rather, the hollow shell of the original proposals, now called the...
#Railnatter Episode 206: California’s hydrogen train hell (and other news stories)
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
CalTrain are pressing ahead with their completely bizarre obsession with hydrogen as a means of powering commuter and intercity trains. It is complete...
#Railnatter Episode 205: When British Rail Ran Boats (a brief history of Sealink et al)
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Internat...
#Railnatter Episode 204: Apprentice Question Time
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's @Youngrailpro Rail Week! In the fourth (we missed one last year) of our YRP Rail Week specials, we are joined by the most guests we've ever squee...