The Salisbury rail crash resulted from slipping wheels, but why is this still a problem on today’s railway, and what can be done about it? GARETH DENNIS digs into the detail. A version of this article also appeared in Issue 946 (15 December 2021) of RAIL magazine. Put aside the £286M a year costs associated with reduced performance. Pass over the £49M a year spent on prevention, management or cleaning. Indeed, ignore the £10M spent on component replacement. …

The claim that the removal of trees makes earthwork failure more likely is often made by those opposing tree clearance adjacent to the railway. GARETH DENNIS unpicks the scientific and practical realities to understand if there is any truth behind it. A version of this article also appeared in Issue 946 (15 December 2021) of RAIL magazine. Network Rail figures indicate that the organisation and its contractors cleared as much as 500 hectares of tree covered land in 2020/21. It’s a significant volume of felling, particularly if you consider the noise…

The race to bring a hydrogen train to the UK market has slowed to a crawl for the same reason blocking conventional electrification: a lack of commitment from government. GARETH DENNIS considers the technological and political hurdles keeping UK hydrogen trains from carrying passengers. A version of this article also appeared in Issue 940 (22 September 2021) of RAIL magazine. On the 17th of August, the UK government published its Hydrogen Strategy. Whilst there’s plenty to pore over, the document is undoubtedly a case of the tail wagging the dog, as instead of looking…

As part of their latest emergency funding settlement, Transport for London is being pressured into making driverless Tube trains a reality, but how feasible is this? GARETH DENNIS sifts through the evidence. A version of this article also appeared in Issue 934 (30 July 2021) of RAIL magazine. Christian Wolmar has written chapter and verse on the pointlessness of driverless cars [Edit: CW was quoted in this piece prior to his expression of harmful transphobic views in February 2023], and I’ve talked…

The source of the now familiar 4 foot 8½ inches dimension is often attributed to Romans, wheel ruts and horse’s bottoms, but the real story is far less mythological. GARETH DENNIS takes a closer look. A version of this article also appeared in Issue 898 (12 February 2020) of RAIL magazine. Last year, a Twitter thread about the permanent way promptly “did an internet” and went viral. This was as much a surprise to me as it might be to you. …

For the first time in recent history, a national party has set out a detailed strategic plan for the railways. GARETH DENNIS interrogates the Scottish Greens’ “Rail for All” report. A version of this article also appeared in Issue 924 (10 February 2021) of RAIL magazine. The COVID crisis in the UK has shown how important it is to have a plan, but this isn’t news to those of us wanting to see improvements in the rail industry. …

Can the party ever move beyond its various legacies and internally competing ideologies? Today, a faction of the Green Party of England and Wales (including leading elected members) has publicly denounced their party’s stated position on Britain’s new high speed railway line, HS2. In their statement explaining the split, Greens4HS2 highlight that, far from forming party policy, the anti-HS2 (and thus, anti-rail) stance…

If it isn’t autonomous, and it isn’t a metro system, then what exactly is the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro? GARETH DENNIS dives under the hood of this strange project. A version of this article also appeared in Issue 918 (18 November 2020) of RAIL magazine. Subsequently, the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro was cancelled when Mayor James Palmer was voted out on 6 May 2021. There are no plans to revive it.

This article was originally published in CityMetric on 23 March 2020. This morning, in what can only be characterised as a whimper rather than a wail, the rail franchising system that has been in place in Britain since 1996 came to a rather unceremonious end. With travel limited to only…