#Railnatter

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 and the wider South Yorkshire area. There will be maps!

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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.

Those big stories aren't all of what we'll cover, though. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on that's worth us all talking about together!

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In October 2024, the supposedly left-leaning Resolution Foundation released a report into the role of electric cars and public transport in reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

The report was... awful. And in this episode, we'll pick through why via a traditional page-turn!

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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 facing in the future! We've thought about the past and about what the issues are today, now we think about what is planned for the future, and if it is good enough!

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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 protection policies, but also the wider mess that Britain's railway ticketing system is in, and ultimately how difficult a lack of investment in ticketing outside of London is making people's lives.

It's a story of how much we get wrong as an industry, and of Britain's over-centralisation, and of annoying people who think all this is fine and the fault of travellers. Perfect #Railnatter fodder!

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.

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 the rules on what it can and cannot borrow, and for what - for a long time. But the Office of Budget Responsibility (itself also pointless) has published a report suggesting these should change.

Will they? Why might this government finally change them? Will this definitely be good? Tune in LIVE to find out!

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.

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 actually been about trains the whole time. This is one of those times.

The crash in 1989 of IDN 1851 is one of the aviation disasters that most grimly highlights how successive small factors can overlay to result in unavoidable calamity. It is critical to understanding systemic, widespread effects right down to seemingly innocuous human errors and their relationship to each other and to safety outcomes. It also happened on my birthday. So it's a worthy episode (in all senses) for us to look at and consider in some detail.

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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 over though.

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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 party can (a) hold Labour's feet to the fire properly on its rail investment plans or lack thereof and (b) it can actually comment on any transport or other investment policy at all without looking ridiculous.

It has been a long time coming though, and I'm delighted to say we're joined by Emma Garnett, sustainability researcher at the University of Oxford and key figure in G4HS2 and the wider GPEW. Her and the team worked extremely hard to make this change happen, and how they made this work is instructive for all of us who want to see policy change via grassroots activism. Not to be missed!

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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 the railway's attitude to both are under extremely uncomfortable public scrutiny now, and so far the industry has not stepped up, so to speak. The situation at Euston shows no sign of improving, and the Rail Minister, Peter Hendy, is still in post. What's next?

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.