Today we’re talking with Gareth Dennis, author of How the Railways Will Fix the Future: Rediscovering the Essential Brilliance of the Iron Road in which he builds a case not simply for railways as a common good, but argues that railways are a critical tool for humanity to survive and thrive. It’s a packed episode: we discuss technology, critical minerals, electrification, freight-passenger rail cooperation, manufacturing transitions, and loneliness—and we felt like we were just getting started. Have a listen! (There’s also a transcript.)
You’ll see how relevant this topics are to what’s happening here in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and why our efforts today make so much sense. Some local news links are also below.
The Times Literary Supplement review provides this summary of How the Railways Will Fix the Future:
Dennis argues that there is “no more efficient means of carrying things and people across land”. He provides ample scientific evidence. And while bus routes can come and go, rail, once constructed, is “unavoidably present”.
He argues, furthermore, that this is an opportunity to create a more equitable world. The manufacture and sale of electric vehicles and their lithium batteries, he writes, will only reinforce “existing power structures”, whether through the extraction of minerals from the Global South or the financial barriers to owning a car. . . . Train operators are incentivized on the basis of efficiency, punctuality and safety, but Dennis argues that it would be far more powerful to measure their success by the number of passengers who switch from cars and planes. . . .
Dennis also puts the spotlight on greed and nefarious practices in the building of trains, proposing that rolling stock should be manufactured, as it was previously and successfully, by the state [and] demolishes convincingly much-hyped solutions such as driverless cars, guided busways and magnetic levitation trains, which divert attention and funding, he argues, from the tried and tested efficiencies of the iron road.
Gareth’s book and podcast
Buy the book: How the Railways Will Fix the Future: Rediscovering the Essential Brilliance of the Iron Road
#Railnatter | Episode 244: Ten Of The Most Pointless US Regional Flights That Should Be Trains
Local notes
“CT representatives push for expanding commuter rail lines to New Milford: ‘Makes so much sense’” (CTInsider)
“It’s not just nostalgia to have a train running through town,” said [Bill Buckbee] the New Milford resident and Republican who represents the 67th House District. “If we can connect by rail the town of New Milford to bus stops farther down the line, it does a lot of great things. It creates a job market … it also opens up housing options because traditionally people who live in the city will eventually move up to the suburbs.”
“Why they de-electrified the Danbury branch” (CTMirror) by Jim Cameron
It was a huge mistake, one that commuters and planners have regretted for over 60 years. For it was in 1959 that the last electric locomotive pulled a train on the Danbury branch.
Credits
Music on the Train Time podcast comes from Two Bit Cowboys.
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