Freight is where the ETCS business case really gets tested. Many freight locomotives were built long before anyone drew a European Train Control System (ETCS) fitment design, and there is no factory fit to fall back on. So the fair question is whether you can retrofit an entire freight fleet without it turning into a nightmare.

Recorded during his time leading ERTMS operations at Freightliner, this conversation has Craig Evans expla...

Twenty years ago the promise was simple. Digital train control would get cheaper, and ETCS and CBTC would become the default for every new scheme. Neither happened. Costs keep rising, and the system knowledge keeps migrating into the supply base.

My guest is Andy Harrison, a long-time friend and consultant to top railway clients across Great Britain, with four decades in the industry. We get into why the tipping point never came, wh...

When people picture the most advanced ETCS in the world, they think Europe. They should look at Delhi. The Regional Rapid Transit System runs ETCS Level 2 with Hybrid Train Detection, Automatic Train Operation, and LTE radio in place of GSM-R. Every modern feature, in one system.

My guest is Vinay Kumar Singh, then Managing Director of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation, the organisation that delivered it. We recorded...

CBTC has been the world's de facto metro signalling standard for 40 years. In all that time it has never been made interoperable across suppliers, so why is the question suddenly back on the table, and why is it proving so hard to answer?

My guest is Dr Alan Rumsey, one of the genuine authorities in this field. Alan chaired the IEEE working group that wrote the original CBTC standard, and he has spent a 45-year career on advanced tr...

Thirty-five years ago, a small international team sat down to write the first specification for what would become the European Train Control System. Bogdan Godziejewski was one of them. So when he says ETCS rollout has been disappointingly slow, it carries the weight of someone who has followed the system from its very first idea to today.

Bogdan is the immediate past president of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineering (IRSE)...

Chris Gibb spent 45 years in high-profile positions across the British railways. He knows what a successful railway operation looks like — and right now he is publicly challenging the plans for High Speed 2 (HS2). 

The issue is not the construction. It does not even impact the High Speed Rail service between London and Birmingham, what most people think HS2 is about. It is the impact of the new HS2 train fleet that contin...

GSM-R is on its way out. FRMCS — the 5G-based successor for railway radio communications — is on its way in. But the migration from one to the other is anything but straightforward.

In this episode, Doc Frank talks to Rob van Looveren from the Netherlands, a railway consultant with hands-on experience in FRMCS specification work for freight trains through the European-funded FENIX project. Together they unpa...

Doc Frank talks to Michael Byng from England. Based on his vast experience from working on high speed rail projects in various countries, including Britain and the Middle East, Michael could share valuable lessons that went way beyond his home turf of cost estimation.

If you like Michael’s insightful comments, check out the previous podcast episode 72 with him. And please remember to like, share and subscribe if you have not a...

Doc Frank talks to Steve Allday, a renowned and experienced railway consultant from Sydney and regular guest on the show. They talk about three key topics defining the future of railway in Australia and maybe some other countries too. High Speed Rail (of course), interoperable train control with ETCS and the increasing shortage of resources in the rail industry.

If you like Steve’s down-to-earth discussion style, check out the...

Doc Frank talks to Tim Parker, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian High Speed Rail Authority. The conversation addresses various points of criticism towards Australia's quest for High Speed Rail and is aimed to increase transparency around this high-profile national project. The insights from this conversation are valuable for anyone involved in High Speed Rail or similar large infrastructure projects.

You can access t...

Doc Frank talks to Stanislas Pinte from "The Signalling Company" which set out to address shortcomings in the fitment of locomotives and trains with ETCS onboard equipment.

If you like this content you can support the channel by liking the video, sharing it with friends and coworkers, and of course subscribing so that you get notified of future episodes.

Feel free to check out the previous 100 episodes of this podcast. There is more ...

Doc Frank chats with Oliver Fried from Sydney, Australia, about Metros but also about High Speed Rail and the common topics between them. Learn how Sydney Metro compares to big hitter metros like Hong Kong or London, how new rail services need to be integrated into wider public transport networks, how Sydney Metro could inform the High Speed Rail planning for Australia, and much more.

A BIG thank you to all listeners, viewers and su...

Doc Frank teams up with two experts on ETCS interoperability testing from Belgium. Learn about practical problems with ETCS interoperability in Europe, what is being done to improve it in the future and how countries starting out on their ETCS journey (such as Australia) can optimise their chances of getting it right from the start.

You can support this channel by sharing and subscribing, and by checking out the world-class training...

Doc Frank chats with Matthew Rea from England where people need to be careful what they can say publicly these days. This difficulty to find discussable topics led to the famous idea from the comedy show Seinfeld to have “a show about nothing”. As you can imagine that talk was of course about something, and something interesting at that. Let yourself get surprised.

Until 30 November 2024, Doc Frank Training offers a Blac...

Doc Frank chats with Gary McGregor from Sydney in Australia, a seasoned transport strategist who was involved in developing key planning documents shaping the long-term rail strategy for Sydney. This talk has been split into three parts to get shorter episodes without losing the depth of longer conversations.

In this third part, expect to learn the difference between visionary and delusional transport planning, why execution eats st...

Doc Frank chats with Gary McGregor from Sydney in Australia, a seasoned transport strategist who was involved in developing key planning documents shaping the long-term rail strategy for Sydney. This talk has been split into three parts to get shorter episodes without losing the depth of longer conversations.

In this second part, expect to learn the effect of line capacity on whether a metro line should branch out, examples of great...

Doc Frank chats with Gary McGregor from Sydney in Australia, a seasoned transport strategist who was involved in developing key planning documents shaping the long-term rail strategy for Sydney. This talk has been split into three parts to get shorter episodes without losing the depth of longer conversations.

In this first part, expect to learn the importance of a whole-network view for any new investment, how a great strategy can l...

Doc Frank chats with Louise Hart from Sydney in Australia, an internationally renowned book author and specialist on governance and procurement of mega projects. This talk has been split into three parts to experiment with shorter episodes without losing the depth of longer conversations.

Please enjoy this third and last part and make sure you subscribe so that you get notified about the other episodes of this podcast.

Show notes:

1)&...

Doc Frank chats with Louise Hart from Sydney in Australia, an internationally renowned book author and specialist on governance and procurement of mega projects. This talk has been split into three parts to experiment with shorter episodes without losing the depth of longer conversations.

Please enjoy this second part and make sure you subscribe so that you get notified about the other parts of this insightful talk.

Show notes:

1)&nbs...