Railway Conversations with Doc Frank
Railway Conversations with Doc Frank
Latest Episodes
#110 — Why Digital Signalling Never Got Cheaper, with Andy Harrison
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 bas...
#109 — The World's Most Modern ETCS Runs in India, with Vinay Kumar Singh
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. ...
#108 — CBTC Interoperability: Why It's Harder Than You Think, with Dr Alan Rumsey
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?
#107 — ETCS at Age 35: Why So Slow? With one of its original authors, Bogdan Godziejewski
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...
