Best Gareth Dennis Podcasts (2025)

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Rail nationalisation was never enough w/ Gareth Dennis 59:43

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14d ago59:43

59:43

One thing you can say about the Labour Party, is that they stuck by their promise to renationalise the rail system. Or did they? To discuss everything that's right and wrong about Britain's railways Andrew is joined by Gareth Dennis. Gareth is a rail engineer and author of HOW THE RAILWAYS WILL FIX THE FUTURE., and Hosts @Railnatter on Youtube. The…

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The five reasons UK transport fails disabled people | #Railnatter 276 38:18

7d ago38:18

38:18

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. It's not a rosy picture. 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 boo…

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This campaign made railways better for everyone | #Railnatter 275 34:25

14d ago34:25

34:25

With ScotRail announcing that their new fleet procurement will include level "access" as well as a key report being published on progress with transport accessibility, it's the right time to revisit Episode 31 and see what progress has been made - and it is actually good news! Disability ARK links here: https://linktr.ee/disabilityark Support #Rail…

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10 new railways to fix Devon and Cornwall | #Railnatter 274 1:01:35

21d ago1:01:35

1:01:35

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 make sense is extremely tricky! In any case, we'll list off 10 railway projects the region needs, think about why and what they might look like in more detail. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com…

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How to build your own train simulator | #Railnatter 273 50:27

1M ago50:27

50:27

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 from a fire hazard into a working - and ACCESSIBLE - train cab that works with off-the-shelf train simulator games. It's a story of knowledge, networks, determination, ADHD and the rail industry steppin…

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An engineer's tour of the Railway Museum's New Hall | #Railnatter 272 32:26

2M ago32:26

32:26

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 York... 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 #HowTheRailwaysWil…

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Now, the People! Jean-Luc Mélenchon book review 46:14

2M ago46:14

46:14

This week Andrew and Lucy are reviewing Now, the People! Revolution in the Twenty-First Century by the french politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon. They discuss Melenchon's idea of "the People" how climate change is sown into this book and if Melenchon’s focus on population levels is necessary for his analysis. and we ask Is melenchon a degrowther? Links …

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Australia's surprising rail transformation story - with Chris Brownbill | #Railnatter 271 56:51

2M ago56:51

56:51

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 feature! 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 #HowTheRailwaysWill…

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This Scottish town is a nightmare | #Railnatter 270 40:29

2M ago40:29

40:29

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 throttling the life out of the town and surrounding communities. Plans to fix this are now in development, so in readiness for looking at those, we consider what options are available, and work out how …

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Railways we desperately need, cancelled in favour of roads | #Railnatter 269 47:45

3M ago47:45

47:45

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 projects that made it. See the full list here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/green-light-for-over-50-road-and-rail-upgrades-supporting-over-39000-new-homes-and-42000-jobs Support #Railnatter at http…

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How North Wales will demolish car dependency | #Railnatter 268 45:26

3M ago45:26

45:26

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 pick out why Westminster is incapable of delivering this sort of strategic thinking. Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis. Merch at https://merch.railnatter.uk. Join in the discussi…

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Why the UK economy will continue to fail | #Railnatter 267 47:39

3M ago47:39

47:39

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. Those are: the new Industrial Strategy, and the Comprehensive Spending Review from earlier this month. Both talking about where money will - or indeed will not - be spent to make the country work be…

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Russia's railways WERE the best in the world - with Milo Edwards | #Railnatter 266 44:00

3M ago44:00

44:00

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 what does this look like? Who better to join us than the UK's official* vibes ambassador to Russia, Milo Edwards? Nobody, that's who. Milo lifts the lid on his experiences as we work out what's good, ba…

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A history of Australia’s railways - with Chris Brownbill | #Railnatter 265 1:06:16

4M ago1:06:16

1:06:16

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 busting a few myths, talking about a major tragedy and helping explain how the Aussie railways nearly beat Japan on the Top Twenty national railway list... Support #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/…

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Burnham is key to northern high speed rail network | #Railnatter 264 49:50

4M ago49:50

49:50

This week we are looking at the proposals of the Liverpool-Manchester Railway Board, the collective of combined and local authorities across the north west of England wanting to finish off the Manchester bits of HS2 as well as the western end of whatever the trans-Pennine high speed line is called today. We'll also be talking about Great British Ra…

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The cases for and against open access rail operators | #Railnatter 263 48:03

4M ago48:03

48:03

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 while, but I'm hoping tonight to take a reasonably exhaustive look at the cases for and against... We'll be looking at two documents to do this: firstly, First Group's January 2025 paper making their cas…

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Driverless Cars Are Pointless - with Victoria Scott | #Railnatter 261 1:06:36

4M ago1:06:36

1:06:36

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 be one of our all-time greats. Why are driverless cars still being pushed onto an unwilling public, three-quarters of a century after the first trials? What's the real reason for adding a near-literal to…

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How not to do feasibility studies | #Railnatter 261 57:04

4M ago57:04

57:04

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 plans any good? Should they go ahead even if the correct route for a north-south Welsh mainline is at the other side of the country? Way back in Episode 57 we analysed where any future north-south Wel…

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Podcasting at the end of the world. 1:08:43

5M ago1:08:43

1:08:43

We are back! It's been a while and well.. everything is kinda getting a bit shit. We have breached 1.5C, the Labour Party are spent and its not rained in England for two bloody months. Andrew and Lucy got together to discuss all the big events over the last six months and reflect on the local election results in England. We also covered Zack Polans…

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Starline's high speed rail "plans" for Europe | #Railnatter 260 58:23

5M ago58:23

58:23

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 between "absolutely nothing" or "actively damaging". Join me LIVE to see if we can work it out together! Read the plans here: https://21st-europe.com/blueprints/starline Enjoyed this? Please do consider …

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Labour are out of ideas already | #Railnatter 259 1:01:43

5M ago1:01:43

1:01:43

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 same language as the Conservatives by virtue signalling to car drivers as a distinct class of their own. It's grim to see. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com…

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Data, maps and how to use them (with Will Deakin) | #Railnatter 258 1:19:33

5M ago1:19:33

1:19:33

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 primer on all of that, and crucially why we do it and what the pitfalls are... Friend of the show Will Deakin joins us to talk about temporal data, spatial data, big data and having fun with it in what I…

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Designing Glasgow a metro system | #Railnatter 257 1:37:22

5M ago1:37:22

1:37:22

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 a realistic but bold modern metro system for Scotland's largest city could look like. Plus we might mention Glasgow Airport again since that got everyone very excited. See the piece I wrote about this…

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Clyde Metro? Glasgow must think bigger | #Railnatter 256 1:09:06

6M ago1:09:06

1:09:06

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? What about the airport? Well, the way to solve all of this is with MAPS and that's what we will be doing! See the piece I wrote about this: https://www.glasgowbell.co.uk/a-blueprint-for-glasgows-rail/ …

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#Railnatter Episode 255: Goodbye USAID, hello China (and much more railway geopolitics) 58:47

6M ago58:47

58:47

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 rise and fall of national and international powers... Whether it's the railway expansion intentions of USAID versus China in south central Africa, increasingly heated riots in Greece over the Tempi r…

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#Railnatter Episode 254: Urban transport in Dubai (and what’s stupid about a lot of it) 56:51

6M ago56:51

56:51

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... And it is a real hotch-potch of junk ranging from obviously stupid to mostly pointless to outright fascist. So let's get the #NotAMetro sorter out and sift through them! Read Nicole's great retort…

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#Railnatter Episode 253: The (draft) Mid Wales Regional Transport Plan 1:02:26

7M ago1:02:26

1:02:26

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! Access the documentation here: https://www.growingmid.wales/article/10136/Mid-Wales-Transportation Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or thro…

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#Railnatter Episode 252: What we must learn from the Grenfell Tower disaster (2) 1:35:55

7M ago1:35:55

1:35:55

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…

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#Railnatter Episode 251: The Future of Cities (keeping an eye on urban trends) 53:46

7M ago53:46

53:46

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 wa…

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#Railnatter Episode 250: The little station that defeated Westminster 1:15:36

8M ago1:15:36

1:15:36

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 trai…

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#Railnatter Episode 249: Heathrow's Third Runway and other economic disasters 1:50:56

8M ago1:50:56

1:50:56

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 bein…

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#Railnatter Episode 248: What should the Scottish railway map look like? 2 1:33:11

8M ago1:33:11

1:33:11

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 Gov…

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#Railnatter Episode 247: A look at Scotland's draft Islands Connectivity Review 1:19:32

8M ago1:19:32

1:19:32

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://garethd…

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#Railnatter Episode 246: A page-turn through the English devolution white paper 1:18:31

9M ago1:18:31

1:18:31

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 cert…

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#Railnatter Episode 245: Is there any reason to be cheerful about the future? 24:43

9M ago24:43

24:43

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 st…

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#Railnatter Episode 244: Ten Of The Most Pointless US Regional Flights That Should Be Trains 2:08:18

9M ago2:08:18

2:08:18

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 about US flights that don't need to exist because they should - or indeed already do - have better rail alternatives. But which, according to our patented scientific assessment system, will be the most …

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#Railnatter Episode 243: What a year 2024 was! (an on-location live AMA) 33:00

9M ago33:00

33:00

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 was 2024... Tuesday at 7pm! As the last live show of the year, we're going back to #Railnatter basics and having an open Ask Me Anything session with a twist: it will be our first on-location live epi…

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Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide. Episode 2: Green Revolution 29:19

9M ago29:19

29:19

Support the Bhopal Medical Appeal https://www.bhopal.org/ Episode two: The Green Revolution explores the historical, political and economic forces that came together to make the Bhopal Gas Disaster a catastrophe just waiting to happen. Focusing on India’s so called “Green Revolution” we discuss the long term consequences of short term technological…

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#Railnatter Episode 242: Contrast on the London Underground 1:11:32

10M ago1:11:32

1:11:32

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 around contrast on the TfL system... It really is a treat, and we get stuck in as we've done for his previous two books! Luke's book is available here: https://amzn.eu/d/2AO6bna or you can pick up a sig…

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#Railnatter Episode 241: An Integrated National Transport Strategy? 57:42

10M ago57:42

57:42

Before being unceremoniously ousted for no reason whatsoever, Louise Haigh's last act as Secretary of State for Transport was to announce her integrated national transport strategy, or at least that it would land in about a year's time. We'll read through the announcement, speculate on why she has been booted and what it might mean, and talk a bit …

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Spirit Behind the Lens Ep 8: From the Club to the Darkroom with Emerzy Corbin 59:55

10M ago59:55

59:55

Eddie is joined by Emerzy Corbin to unpack the techniques of photography in the club today, new technological developments in the craft, and the treasured canon of cameras and communities they've worked with. Support Zer0 Books and Repeater Media on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zer0repeater Subscribe: https://www.patreon.com/zer0repeater Facebo…

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Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide. Episode 1: Tank 610 25:24

10M ago25:24

25:24

Support the Bhopal Medical Appeal https://www.bhopal.org/ Forty years ago on the night of December 2nd 1984 water entered the chemical storage tank 610 at the Union Carbide India plant in Bhopal causing an exothermic reaction that released a deadly cloud of gas into the air which was blown for miles across the city exposing more than 500,000 people…

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Bhopal: Stories of an Ecocide coming December 2nd 1:29

10M ago1:29

1:29

First episode December 2nd Forty years ago, on the night of December 2nd 1984, water entered the chemical storage tank 610 at the Union Carbide India plant in Bhopal, causing an exothermic reaction that released a deadly cloud of gas into the air which was blown for miles across the city exposing more than 500,000 people to the deadly and enduring …

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#Railnatter Episode 240: What we must learn from the Grenfell Tower disaster 1:21:45

10M ago1:21:45

1:21:45

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 through the events leading up to the disaster, and the many chances we had to avoid it happening. We'll look at the role of government, of the various building and housing regulators, of the private in…

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#Railnatter Episode 239: Vancouver's SkyTrain and what we can learn from it 1:39:52

10M ago1:39:52

1:39:52

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 history that created it. Don't worry though - it's actually very good! We chart the fall of the interurbans and the rise of this not-a-gadgetbahn system as it grew across the city, and consider what's next…

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#Railnatter Episode 238: How a Sheffield Crossrail would boost South Yorkshire 1:28:21

11M ago1:28:21

1:28:21

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! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/ga…

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#Railnatter Episode 237: Bad budget, worse election (it's a news ep/struggle sesh) 1:23:30

11M ago1:23:30

1:23:30

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! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter a…

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Combating Climate Change Deniers 1:13:12

11M ago1:13:12

1:13:12

You may have noticed that all your favourite online spaces are rife with climate denial, skepticism and down right lies about how humans are effecting the globe. What is driving this change?Are these people working as individuals, in networks or backed by the oil and gas industry itself? This week we here from some who's trying to fight back agains…

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#Railnatter Episode 236: Are cars really the future of green transport? (NO!) 56:08

11M ago56:08

56:08

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! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https:/…

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#Railnatter Episode 235: Ireland's railways 3. What about the future? 1:23:21

11M ago1:23:21

1:23:21

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! Enjoyed this? Please do consider suppor…