Railway Tales

This blog shares some stories from my experiences as a railway engineer in York. I'm excited about the challenge of helping bring the UK's rail network into the 21st century and this page signposts some of the things I've been reflecting about on the blog.

Climate change impacts on the railways
I have written here about resilience to extreme weather, particularly about how the railway is addressing risks posed by water and slope stability. I will be expanding on these themes at the Geological Society's conference on Water and Risk in November 2016.

• ICE Triennial: A reflection on the winter floods of 2015
• Storms, Floods and Landslides - An Engineer's Tale
• Winter Woes for a (not very) resilient railway

Careers in Rail

From organising the first ever Rail Week in York in 2016 to performing on stage at the National Railway Museum in 2015, you could say I'm pretty passionate about engineering careers! Here are some of my highlights:

• Pledging for Parity: Inclusive Language for the Rail Industry
• In Fog and Falling Snow: York's Railway History on Stage at the NRM
• Flexible Working: Is Engineering the Perfect Retirement Job?
• 5 Railway Jobs You've Never Thought Of

Building a Better Railway
Considering the surprising statistic that there are more passengers every day on the trains now than there ever has been, we are seeing the biggest investment in our railway network since the Victorian era. And this is only going to get bigger: if we see just 10% of journeys shifted from cars onto trains over the next 5 years, that would represent a DOUBLING of passenger journeys compared to 2014, on a network that is already crowded.
So these posts discuss some of the railway improvement projects near me, especially the East Coast Mainline, how to embed sustainability into rail projects and two different perspectives on the High Speed 2 debate.

• In Praise of Precision: why engineering language matters'
• Making a Difference in Manchester (or: how I helped double the size of the Manchester team network)
• Good News - The Railways are Getting Better!
• Towards a Sustainable Railway - Part 1 and Part 2
• Two perspectives on HS2: why we need it and how to build it well

I have also written about my experiences as a passenger, especially as a cyclist: Bike + Train = ? and as a commuter on the Harrogate Line:

• Getting Transport Policy Right: The Harrogate Line Blues
• Thinking Long Term on the Railways - Lessons From the Harrogate Line

Wildlife on track and working with nature 
Over the last few months of 2014, I went on a lot of site visits which gave me the chance to reflect on the railways' ambiguous relationship with ecology (and wildlife spotting!)

• Wildlife on Track: September and October

In November 2014 I had the opportunity to visit the west coast of America so I was interested to find out the American attitude to ecology too:

• Wildlife on Holiday: Los Angeles
• Books, books everywhere (or, why I am not your typical railway enthusiast)