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With Labour's Transport Secretary describing the project management and delivery of the biggest investment in rail in living memory as 'dire', I think those in and around GB rail need to be realistic about what rail will get, and frankly, realistic also about what rail deserves.... Revenue is still down 25% relative to pre-pandemic forecasts, with work-related travel that links rail to economic growth particularly badly hit. And long overdue productivity improvements are still awaited after doling out 15% 'no strings' pay rises to drivers already on at least £60k pa. Get real people! Try to lose the 'we deserve' mentality and embrace rail getting efficient and customer-focused, after 15 years of stagnation, and waste, led by HS2 and ('stop the job') Network Rail.

Thank you so much for doing this interview - great to hear Darren's point of view, and to hear the two of you having an intelligent conversation about the issues. I think that at least part of the Treasury negative attitude to rail is the frequently quoted statistic that only 8% of UK travel is by rail. May I make two suggestions: (1) Someone (maybe Green Signals? - maybe RIA?) should debunk this by calculating travel by rail as a percentage of travel which is possible by rail (e.g. not anywhere from Launceston, Bude, Wadebridge. Westerham, Saffron Walden etc.) - in particular, look at the percentage where the rail offer is really good. (2) Might it be sensible to create an 'integrated public transport' Supply-chain lobby by including bus/coach manufacturers and ancillary businesses - e.g. suppliers of battery/hydrogen technology, and electric and diesel engines/parts. At a stroke you would at least double that 8% in the Treasury's mind. I often think that rail industry people themselves view that statistic from the wrong end of the telescope; if 80%+ of travel is not at present by rail or bus, that's one hell of a market potential - you just have to make those journeys possible and practicable by public transport (hint - you won't do this without some kind of integration), and then make them BETTER than by car. While there are some people wedded to their car, cars are neither cheap nor hassle-free to buy, learn to drive, fuel, maintain, tax, insure etc.. Rail and bus managers perhaps need to look at what they are doing wrong to let this massive segment of the market go unserviced ...

Like all lobbyists, this chap is full of wishful thinking. Meanwhile, in the real world, West Midlands Railways regularly cancels every single train on my local line due to staff shortages, despite the huge amount of money allocated to the pay rise for train drivers. Why should politicians risk their reputations by backing such a hopeless industry?

Every £1 spent on rail generates £2.50?????? If you believe that, you'll believe absolutely anything!

What I want to see is: A comprehensive re-nationalisation of the entire UK network (with no compensation for private companies - they are simply sacked). A huge development and upgrade programme (new lines, new stations, new trains), returning network traffic to pre-Beecham levels. An 80-90% cut in rail fares (with no train journey in the UK to ever exceed £25). A large-scale rail-worker recruitment programme. A return to station-based ticket offices. The result? An economy that works because of the transport infrastructure not in spite of it.

Interesting Interview, I rather like these shorter topical videos! I hold no hope for the budget, the Party which should be Keynesian refuses to implement Keynesianism, regarding why don't governments want to invest in Rail I think it's because of Neo Liberal Ideology but also we don't have a department for Transport we have a department for Cars pretending to be a transport department, ideally the Dft should be broken up, Furthermore the sociopaths in the treasury don't like railways and this country is generally car centric in its thinking anyway, in comparison to Europe.

I can see how passionate Darren is about this subject and I think in this day in age, that is incredibly refreshing.

Really hoping that northern rail transpennine express and cross country can final order some new teqin as those 3 need new new stock to replace br era stock or increase capacity on there busyer routes

I fully agree with Darren that the railway is very easy to plan for. I have been suggesting a GIS Based map based on Data that shows rolling stock replacement, route immunization, ETCS plans and Electrification. It would not be difficult to produce a series of simple date stamped maps that show what needs to done at the appropriate time. I am very much enjoying this channel and glad I found it recently. And I should add to that battery tech trains are developing at such a rate that any data based Model would likely best updated every year to make sure its correct.

I am not sure we cannot build infrastructure any longer. What I do think is that we are estimating price and program against historical achievement without considering improved safety, reduced access to the Railways and a boom and bust cycle that rids the industry of experience. We then have very senior people that use old client behaviours rather than working with the supply chain. Howver we can do this as we delived the Olympics and with the correct clients then we can. And getting a Bill through the POLITICAL process is little more than a joke.

One problem with HS2 was the apparent desperation to start digging. It turns out most of the costs weren't known, the property acquisition alone ran wildly out of control and over budget. The trains weren't even designed!!! To build a railway without any clue what rolling stock was to be used cannot be sensible. Why, incidentally, didn't we just get the French to build it and put their TGVs on it? Proven trains and expertise in high speed rail 🤷‍♂ No more HS anything with government in charge of it. Their decisions are politically motivated and not based in any trace of project management and delivery. You should balance the show with some guests who question HS2. It's a bit of a love-in, very enjoyable though it is.

Hopefully more money for local electrification schemes. There also needs to be money diverted or available to tackle the elephant in the room which is accessibility at railway stations.

In terms of someone taking control of Euston, the problem is that if someone were to own up to taking responsibility, they might then have to accept the consequences when the 'strategy' fails to deliver to the reuqired level. The buck never appears to stop with those in charge and there are no consequences.

Northern could order more Class 195 and Class 331 Civitys and to transfer some of the older units to GWR and to keep the Class 170.

I think that HS2 should continue on to extend to Manchester and to connect with the ECML to York and Newcastle.

I would love to see more charters and other specials running FROM Scotland to other destinations. Understandably the majority of trains originate in the south of the UK and a few run to Scottish destinations, but that involves travelling to/from London or eslewhere before/after.

Cool 😎

Could it be that Haigh’s Phase 2 Review provides a substantive independent authoritative report to counter the half-baked ill informed sniping of the likes of Gilligan if Phase 2B does re-start?

Politicians never die They just end up on 6 figure taxpayer funded salaries on meaningless quangos

One of the reasons why our rolling stock is so expensive is that any standard EU design has to be extensively modified to fit the UK loading gauge. In Europe almost any design will run anywhere, so called economies of scale. In many places our so called “6ft” doesn’t even meet that. We should be aiming to open up our loading gauge . Think of all the EU high speed trains that spend their first and last few km on traditional lines. Another blow forHS2 is therefore having new stations and dual KE vehicles.

I understand the new Piccadilly line trains make room for the aircon equipment underneath the floor, by using an articulated design so halving the number of bogies needed. Also they claim regenerative braking and more coasting will reduce heat output so partly offsetting the heat output from the aircon; however they have also indicated that there might need to be more air shafts installed to get rid of the heat. So don't expect this to go without some problems!

The whole problem with Sunak's decision is that it had absolutely nothing to do with logic, economy or budgets. It saved very little, but it blew away all the value. It was just a last ditch attention to try and gain a few political points with the electorate, a drowning man grasping at straws. If this point could be got across and the stupidity of the decision acknowledged, the landscape of arguments for completion would be so much simpler!

what happens if there is a delay and the train runs out of charge before it gets to the charging point ???

I loved the end with 50 050. I have that loco in my model railway collection. She is one of my best locos. It is named Golden Jubilee.

The goats restoring important habitat....delightful!

Piss poor planning leads to piss poor performance Planning and procurement Leaders and staff all need to be aware before the start of

Interesting to hear that they are using LTO batteries (Titanate anode) that allow very high charging currents and promise over 20000 charging cycles. This is definitely the right choice for this application. However, this type of battery is not used in standard electric cars, as car batteries (NMC/NMA/LFP) are optimtmzied for higher capacity and smaller size. Very high braking and charging capability is not required for cars. I whish this project a brillant future.

I live in the Appennines in Italy. Keeping goats off the roads is a full time job, so keeping goats of the line is interesting. What do they do with the goats, eat them or milk them

Without any industry expertise or knowledge ministers and civil servants will try to prescribe how the project should proceed. Outcomes and consequences will be dire.

Still think it should have been built north to south, politically it would have been easier and made the argument against phase 1 impossible.

In the LBC news story a leak maybe to test the waters of public and tabloid opinion? I know that’s very cynical.

The G.O.A.T off all railway podcasts keep it up I might need to track down the team behind the goats to talk at Network Rails Green Network

when was the last motoreail train run.

where exacly are the railway goats i missed the location in the annoucement.

Great HS2 episode, be interesting to see what gov eventually announces. Let's hope for clear decisions which include Euston and Crewe. Otherwise very limited benefit to Scotland. Good to hear about the free remembrance travel.

One other local point about HS2A. Somebody we know sold their house to HS2 Ltd and moved out about 3 weeks ago. Their house is close to the proposed southern portal of the tunnel under Bar Hill. Why, are HS2 Ltd still buying up property 11 months after the project was cancelled. Is there a secret agenda going on here?

once all veichels are electric powered are small rural lines better with a smaller more frequent bus services or a very infrequent rail service.. where do you draw the line this would make an intresting future episode.

Great episode this week

Briiiiant,! And so much is common sense. We have always lacked technical and project management experience in both our politicians and civil servants. For example, changes to the scope of work post the study phase, and managing risk in implementation is such an integral part of project management which often goes unrecognised in those circles. I also think that the whole approach to procurement in HS2 needs to be looked at.

HS2A 'with only one tunnel'? Well I'm sat in the corner of North Staffs, hardby the edge of both Shropshire and Cheshire and HS2A was due to run in a tunnel under Whitmore, then a viaduct over WCML and into another tunnel through Bar Hill to emerge out into Cheshire and a run down into Crewe. So I'm not sure where 'just one tunnel' comes from