In her new book 'Off the Rails: the Inside Story of HS2', Sally Gimson meets with the politicians, engineers and ordinary people affected by the failure of HS2. Travelling from demolished council estates in Camden to ghost towns along the now cancelled northern branch, Off the Rails provides a forensic examination of how a vital social project imploded.

Christian discusses in depth with the author the insights gained from her research, the lessons that the UK should learn and what needs to be done to bring the truncated project into service.

Christian and co-presenter Mark Walker pick up on some of the issues around driverless cars from the visit to Bosch in Stuttgart covered in episode 3/18 [1:30]. With the UK's Rail200 celebrations in full swing, our hosts discuss 'The Greatest Gathering' in Derby [7:12] and Mark reports back from an unforgettable journey to the event on 'The Belmond British Pullman' [10:32]. Looking to the future prospects for rail in the UK, Christian interviews the Chief Executive of one of its largest trade associations, Darren Caplan of the Railway Industry Association [26:21]. In his thought from the departure lounge, Christian wonders what lessons can be learned from Norway on the propensity of electric vehicles to encourage greater car use [40:56].

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Christian and co-presenter Mark Walker examine just which transport schemes ended up being funded by the UK Department for Transport through the Spending Review - and which ones didn't [1:20]. Ever interested in the issue of driverless cars, Christian reports back from a visit to Bosch in Stuttgart, Germany, who are developing software for the driver aids that potentially pave the way for this technology [16:25]. One year on from the election of the Labour Government in the UK, Christian and Mark discuss its scorecard on transport policy and innovation [32:20]. Finally, Christian anticipates 'The Great Gathering' at the Alstom factory in Derby as part of the Rail200 celebrations [41:56].

Find 'Calling All Stations - the transport podcast' on social media channels here:

• X (formerly Twitter) - https://x.com/AllStationsPod
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/Calling_all_Stations_podcast/
• Threads - https://www.threads.net/@calling_all_stations_podcast
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