Railway Conversations with Doc Frank

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...

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...

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 HS...

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. Togethe...

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 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 d...

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 infrastr...

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 previo...

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...

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 c...

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 Fran...

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 trans...

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...

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 in...

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 epi...

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 th...

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 first part and make sure you subscribe so that you get notified about the other parts of thi...

Doc Frank chats with Peter Colacino from Sydney in Australia. Peter gives us a deep insight into his model for improving projects, covering collaboration, productivity and outcomes.  Please enjoy, share, subscribe and support the show by considering the training offers in the advertisements before and after the discussion. This helps greatly keeping this podcast running, and it makes me very happy...

Doc Frank chats with Andy Harrison from London about project management lessons learned, referring to insights from the excellent book “How Big Things Get Done” by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner. Show notes: 1)      No matter which source you use for buying this book, buying it will be very worth it. There are hardcover, paperback and electronic versions of quite different price points, and here i...

This is a special from the previous podcast episode 88 with Andy Harrison and discusses ideas how to transform project delivery methods for groundbreaking improvements. The book references in this talk relate to the project management bestseller "How to Get Big Things Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner.

Doc Frank chats with Andy Petrie from Sydney in Australia. Andy specialises in Systems Safety Assurance but what is even more exciting is his passion for “cutting the BS” in order to ensure more value for money and make the railway industry a better place. Enjoy this episode and share it widely with others who may want a bit of inspiration for speaking their mind. Show notes: 1)      One of the be...

This clip is part of a longer episode with Andy Petrie from Sydney in Australia which was broadcast in full as episode 87. Interoperability of digital signalling systems is a hot topic in Australia, and I used this opportunity to bounce my views off Andy and get his perspective as well.

This is the second part of the conversation between Doc Frank and Sean Connolly where they talk about guiding principles and success drivers for High Speed Rail. If you missed the first part of this talk, make sure you also check out the previous episode #85. Show notes: 1)      Here is the link to the overview one-pager of Sean’s success drivers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HyBxzAnFfu8Ugcn35...

Doc Frank and Sean Connolly talk about guiding principles and success drivers for High Speed Rail that Sean postulated in his elaborate report with High Speed Rail recommendations for Australia. Show notes: 1)      Here is the link to the overview one-pager of Sean’s success drivers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HyBxzAnFfu8Ugcn35K1muX2bEAsBxTqE/view?usp=sharing 2)      And here is the link to...

Doc Frank chats with Michael Thiel from a small town in Austria near the border to Germany. Michael is the CEO of Frauscher Sensor Technology, a globally active signalling component supplier specialised in wheel sensors and axle counters. We talk about tips and tricks how being focused, specialised and close to the customers can help a small company compete successfully with much bigger players in...