Perhaps if the UK decides to co-locate new nuclear power plants at existing coal-fired plant they can have multiple wins. 1. Use existing electric power distribution. 2. Use local 750C heat source to crack coal into clean burning fuels. 3. Continue mining UK coal. 4. Develop local chemical and fertilizer industries for farming and industry. These are all fantastic green energy goals !

I have relatives who live on the Isle of Wight, and transport infrastructure over there in general seems to be failing. Not only do they have the Island Line that had a major refurb (and long term closure) just a few years ago, but they also have a floating bridge that regularly doesn't work and a road network that continually feels the effects of the moving ground in various places around the island. Just recently one of the major roads between Upper and Lower Ventnor had to be closed for major repairs to be made.

Extraordinary interview. NYCer here greatly missing his leadership.

I had the great pleasure of working with Andy at Southeastern. After 35 years in the operational railways he remains the best boss i ever worked for. I loved the video fantastic to hearhis complete rail hisory.

As full electrification is 30% to 80% cheaper that bimodes and hydrogen over 30 years on most routes, why is Green Signals not on side?

Of course, you would expect their own lawyers to know whether SJPs were legal or not and advise accordingly. After sll they are trained in the law. So no, if they have to refund 75000 fines, it's entirely deserved, and I have zero sympathy. If they'd done it properly I'd say fair enough. It does that someone, somewhere is not doing their job properly.

Missed last week due to campaigning for election. Keep it up!

For the record NYC's MTA stands for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority

We missed you at NYCT. Cuomo was an a** to make you leave. I was a pleasure knowing you.

Will the incumbent Labour Government proceed to fund electrification of the line between Leeds and Bradford, to match the line between Romford and Upminster? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rq6DdcaUntiqoac.htmlsi=oqW6jxrCAOgDRSwG

Just finished this episode- started watching pre election and finished post election. I have to say I wasn’t feeling too positive after the result (lost faith in all politics) but after hearing Lord Hendy being appointed as Transport Minister it really has raised my spirits. I’m intrigued what happens next with the HS2 fiasco now. Wondering (and hoping) the cancellation will be revisited by competent people. Anyway interesting stuff always from Lord Hendy in this episode. I signed up to the Rail200 website and it’s something I’d love to be involved in. Not sure how but count me in!

A great inspiring interview

The mainline electrification through Woodhead. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oL-ofrio09qseWQ.htmlsi=bE5VDL0mb__zZAPl

I've done the trip and had the meal. Amiable chef came to talk to us without soliciting plaudits. The service deserves some support from the advertising budget if viability is difficult without it. Pullman dining on weekdays only when we went. Carriage suspension or state of track or both disappoint the further west and the slower you go. Excellent approach to this sort of travelogue. Beware the over-use of superlatives.

Chinese mega projects, shows what can be done to upgrade the UK rail infrastructure. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n8iJdsqTlpbIhJc.htmlsi=UvpozTTND2zO8Fdw

Enjoyed every minute (apart from the football!). What an amazing, charismatic guy!

Really enjoyed this episode, especially on coal traffic, which really reasonated - self and father worked in railfreight business and I recollect father saying post 84-85 miners strike - the ops manager at Uskmouth power station called him and said, 'thats it John we will never use rail again' And they didnt :o(

Rail tickets. Look at the operators between York and Leeds, which are a case example. A passenger buys a TPE ticket, and then their planned train is late or cancelled. The passenger boards a Northern or Cross Country train and then are challenged and have to buy another ticket for their journey. Its that complexity that is not made known. And I was of the understanding that was a protected part of ticketing at privatisation.

Came on to Green signals late this week due to not being able to connect on Cross Country wifi restrictions. So connected Monday.

Thanks

Great episode as always. Loved the Crewe to Manchester extension of a stopping train pretending to replace HS2! Did you see Royal Mail announcing cuts to flights just to add more traffic to road and not rail! Note that KZfaq does apply auto generated subtitles to videos with speech but I find you need to edit it to correct mistakes!

Should NR engineers be directly involved in planning major rail projects, e.g., HS2? It seems the DfT invariably outsources major projects to global companies. However, the German, Danish and Swiss Governments, have engineers employed as civil servants to plan major rail projects.

In justification for the sunken cassion tunnel across the lower reaches of the Thames it is highly likely the level of traffic between the UK mainland and Europe is greater than between Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

The Fehmarn Belt Crossing was first planned as a bridge. However, the engineers eventually decided that a sunken cassion tunnel offered a superior long term solution. Similarly, the Lower Thames Crossing should be changed to a sunk-cassion road and rail tunnel. To keep costs under control it should be possible to use the factory building the Fahmarn Belt caissons (due for completion in 2028) to also provide the caissons for the LTC.

The incoming Labour Government should immediately cancel the Lower Thames Crossing. This road only project increases the use of HGVs for long distance freight between the UK and Europe. Even with the introduction of battery-electric HGVs the impact of road accidents should ensure the cancellation of the road only LTC and instead a road and rail crossing to accelerate the modal shift from road to rail.

To improve connectivity some transport planners would suggest raising the motorway speed to 100 mph. Other transport planners recommend reopening some the old railway lines especially in the Northern industrial areas where they were closed due to a fall in freight and a neglect of the potential need for passenger services, e.g., the Spen Valley Line.

What is the accident rate of the Manchester trams compared to the grade separated Docklands Light Railway. Should the planners of the West Yorkshire Metro take into account the direct and indirect costs of accidents in their plans? Will the whole life cost of accidents favour a grade separated light rail system, instead of a streetcar/tram over the estimated life of thirty years.

It is estimated that accidents cost the UK £33 billion a year!

Flooding due to global warming will be a major cost with the need for additional hugely expensive flood defences, e.g., a new Thames Barrier. One of the ways to reduce global warming is to focus on the jobs, housing and rail developments in the North, instead of extending Crossrail along the Thames Estuary, e.g., to Thamemead

If everyone in the south commuted by car how much this would cost in terms of accidents? A classic case of the north south divide is the enthusiasm for removing hard shoulders on the motorways to increase road usage at minimum cost, e.g., on the M1 near Sheffield.

Many rail pundits are against reopening Beeching Lines to begin to reconnect communities. However, the safely benefits are not being fully evaluated. The previous Givernment moving in the opposite direction with the removing of hard shoulders on motorways to reduce construction costs. However, accidents are a major factor in human misery and hugely contribute to society costs.

The thing that is often overlooked by the rail enthusiasts is the safety benefits of the modal shift from road to rail. Road accidents are costing the country a huge amount, both directly and with the healthcare costs. Expanding and modernising the railways network can contribute immensely to reducing road accidents to help everyone.

Very eloquent my old boss Nick Millington

Unfortunately West Coast Railways have blagged it too long for central door locking and thought ORR would succumb.. sorry guys

Thanks guys.it’s the last proper dining car on the UK rail network.. keep it going..

It's a perfect illustration of just how broken the UK "justice" system is though - that anyone could manage to initiate 75000 prosecutions without any actual legal basis AND NOBODY NOTICED just shows how excrably low the level of oversight in the legal system is.

I’m about halfway through this video and I’m loving it! Thank you! “Stop mucking about with it” had me smirking. Well done all!

Regional Electrification Agreed. The Dutch Government has agreed to fund €98 of the cost of electrifying two regional single track lines, currently operated by DMUs. The Overijssel province had considered battery EMUs, however, by 2022 the province had decided that BEMU operation would be more expensive than simple electrification. (Ref: John Morris, July 2024 Edition, Modern Railways). This may be the solution for the single line from Harrogate to York, now the MP is Lib-Dem!

Oh I agree wholeheartedly with Richard over the Reversing Beeching matter. Maybe it’s the accountant in me but lines shouldn’t be reopen unless it makes economic sense. We are not in the age of people not having other means of transport. My bugbear is the Afonwen branchline. Whilst I would love to see trains along that line again - it’s only the nostalgia hit for me - I don’t support spending £1bn to reopen it. There are far more important things to spend £1bn on in Wales. Controversial opinion but I’m not sure what Beeching did was actually wrong. It probably made economic sense to be honest. It’s a shame it happened but hey ho

A great and inspiring interview. One of the greats!

Hi there, just wanted to mention that I am in Christchurch New Zealand and I usually listen to the podcast whilst I'm doing model railway stuff at the weekend. Great show, really good watch love the content and interviews.

It's very depressing that the Be Kind campaign is needed. Teams can only pass on what information they have and when things are changing rapidly they can very easily be behind the latest news, and the speed that things appear on social media just makes that worse. When I worked in aviation we used the SITA system, which was a teletype service that prioritises messages so that when the system is getting overloaded the most urgent go first, it also requires people to physically enter text messages and people would become most upset if we didn't have information on a departure from another airport that they've seen as delayed online a few seconds before phoning. Standard messages had a guaranteed delivery of within 2 hours of being sent!

Transport and Post Office. What's next in the UK?

Last coal train to the last coal power station, HURRAY! Horrible stuff, rightly relegated to the past. Ratcliffe power station at most provides about 1% of total UK electricity often as little as 0.1% in a month. It won't be missed.

Great podcast today, playing catch up as been away for a few weeks and can’t wait for your next post-election episode. One comment to make here, well two actually, firstly regarding the social media abuse piece, Nigel made the comment of don’t make a comment you wouldn’t make to someone’s face… my brother was station staff on London Underground and the abuse he received to his face was quite disgusting but it was treated as one of the unavoidable aspects of the job. Second point, fare evasion - something that really gets my back up is “There’s an app!” As Nigel says not everyone has a smart phone - well quite a few of older people don’t have smart phones actually but even so, for those who have smart phones it is ridiculous to expect someone getting to a station to find the ticket office closed and ticket machine out of order and possibly due to catch a train very shortly to have to try and download an app (if there’s a phone signal!) set up an account, set up a payment method and find and purchase the correct ticket m, all on a tiny little screen which many older people struggle to see clearly and use. Sorry to bang on about it but this expectation that a smart phone is an adequate replacement of a proper staffed service is so wrong - no more aptly demonstrated by old people (eg my parents) trying and mostly failing to try and navigate the NHS booking system… anyway keep up the good work! Paul

Great interview; amazing story. There are many who are opposed to the idea of HSR in Texas, and not just the rural areas. Funding generally, (and especially for HS) may well become a major problem for Amtrak after November '24. If anyone can pull it off, Andy can ...

Not only does Ryde Pier need work but the other end of the ferry route Portsmouth Harbour station will need a lot of work doing to it before it disappears into the water. The Glasgow and South western was also redoubled as well the upgrade to the Settle and Carlisle for Humberston traffic.

Regarding the 'be kind' campaign, the media and politicians have more than a little to answer for. Take the ASLEF dispute, the politicians especially, are quite happy to stir up hatred by constantly giving half-truths (hence my obsession with getting Huw Merrimans comments checked out). He, and the rest of his party, along with selected media were more than happy to make drivers out to be money grabbing mercenaries by quoting the well known '£60k for a 4 day week' line, when anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the situation knows it is mostly about the t&c's that were contained in that 'offer'. Is it any wonder that the public are rude and offensive when they are effectively being told that railway employees are lazy/greedy/no qualifications needed for the role, and so on, and seeing disrespectful and borderline offensive comments made by politicians and the media?

Rob back couple of points I understand the need to close coal fired power stations, but surely we should have the replacements ready (whatever they may be) FIRST! I live near three closed power stations. High Marham long gone.Cotton and West Burton A be demolished. Rail lines to the latter two are overgrown. Closing in Summer is great but power is needed in winter , a thinking along the miners strike, does not an all out strike at Port Talbot steelworks help it close? Lessons are never learnt.

On the LNWR service extension - it will be interesting to see how much capacity it adds. These services started off as 4 car and are now 8 car - and are a really popular service.... so if they're already well loaded on their existing diagram - just how many more seats are available to service manchester passengers ?... or will they get stretched in length again to provide more seats ?