#Railnatter

#Railnatter Episode 252: What we must learn from the Grenfell Tower disaster (2)

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 Grenfell Tower in 2017. Tonight, we are joined by fire engineer and researcher Alastair Temple to look at what the inquiry into the disaster recommends to avoid it ever happening again.
Find Alastair Temple's portfolio: https://alastairtemple.co.uk/
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

#Railnatter Episode 251: The Future of Cities (keeping an eye on urban trends)

Cities are extremely important, despite only one of them getting much meaningful attention in the UK. Network Rail and WPI Economics have pulled together a report looking at cities and the trends that are defining their futures right now, including post-COVID behavioural changes, and it piqued my interest. Let's take a look together in the usual way!
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

#Railnatter Episode 250: The little station that defeated Westminster

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 survived for us all to enjoy today...
Located in a stunning spot on the railway line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, Duncraig station sees only around 500 passengers a year hopping on or off trains at its diminutive halt. But it is a unique, beautiful and helpful little station, and the story of its survival holds lessons for us all. So let's tell it!
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

#Railnatter Episode 249: Heathrow's Third Runway and other economic disasters

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's environmental and economic targets by decades. We'll talk a bit about this decision, why it is really bad, and of course dig into a few months of other news as well. And we have the delight of being joined by Rob from Podcasting Is Praxis, helping halve/double the despair...
Go and find Praxiscast: https://praxiscast.podbean.com/
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

#Railnatter Episode 248: What should the Scottish railway map look like? 2

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 really take a material look at what the missing bits really were... Tonight, we fix that!
We look at Scotland's missing railway links that will need to be plugged for the future economy the Scottish Government keep talking about to materialise. We look beyond the approach we considered in the previous episode to see how missing links call on other demands than pure population development. And! We! Look! At! Maps!
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

#Railnatter Episode 247: A look at Scotland's draft Islands Connectivity Review

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 definitions of the term...
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

#Railnatter Episode 246: A page-turn through the English devolution white paper

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 detail about how the UK would simply never have better public transport without deep and meaningful devolution, including of funding powers... It's something we'd been talking about before and we've certainly been talking about it a lot since. Will these plans hit the mark?
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

#Railnatter Episode 245: Is there any reason to be cheerful about the future?

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 for good. Whether it's rail reform, devolution, level boarding, #Rail200, or the enormous sustained demand for more rail services in the UK, it might just be a really exciting year. At least we can start out thinking that way at least!
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://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.
You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways