Gareth Dennis

Last updated
Gareth Dennis
Born
Gareth Aled Dennis

February 1991
Edinburgh, Scotland
Alma mater University of Edinburgh
Years active2013–present
Children1
Website www.garethdennis.co.uk

Gareth Aled Dennis (born February 1991) is a Scottish-Welsh rail engineer and writer based in York who specialises in transport systems and policy. He also lectures at the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE).

Contents

Dennis is oft cited as a "rail expert" by the British press. [1]

Early life

Dennis was born in Edinburgh to a Scottish father and a Welsh mother and grew up in Inverurie [2] until the age of 16, when he moved to Aberystwyth. He attended Inverurie Academy and completed his A Levels at Penglais Comprehensive School. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2013 with a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering with Construction Management. [3]

Career

After graduating from University, Dennis joined Atkins as a graduate civil engineer; later in 2016, he became an assistant engineer at Atkins as well as a permanent way engineer at Arcadis. From 2014 to 2020, Dennis served as founding director of Permanent Rail Engineering, a sustainable transport consultancy. [4] In 2018, Dennis began lecturing at the National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster [5] and the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) at the University of Birmingham. [6]

In 2020, Dennis started the podcast #Railnatter. [7] In addition to his own Medium column, he has written for publications such as The Independent , CityMetric , Railway Gazette International , Left Foot Forward , Wiley Online Library, and Jacobin , [8] and appeared on networks including Sky News, BBC News, ITV Tonight , and Novara Media. Dennis contributed to the Transport Committee's 2022 Integrated Rail Plan inquiry [9]

Dennis is a strong supporter of HS2 and increasing capacity on the UK railway network, and was highly critical of the Conservative government's approach and persistent watering down of the new system. [10] [11] [12] He has also advocated for more metros and tram systems in British cities. [13] [14]

In early 2024, Dennis became a principle engineer and UK professional head of track at SYSTRA and received the company's Distinguished Service Award for a Young Rail Professional. [15] In November 2024, Dennis will publish his debut book How the Railways Will Fix the Future: Rediscovering the brilliance of the iron road via Penguin Random House. [16]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euston railway station</span> Central London railway terminus

Euston railway station is a major central London railway terminus managed by Network Rail in the London Borough of Camden. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railway. Euston is the tenth-busiest station in Britain and the country's busiest inter-city passenger terminal, being the gateway from London to the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheffield station</span> Combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England

Sheffield station is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England; it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire, and the third busiest in Yorkshire & the Humber. Adjacent is Sheffield station/Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Supertram stop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds railway station</span> Mainline railway station in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Leeds railway station is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Row, behind the landmark Queens Hotel. It is one of 20 stations managed by Network Rail. As of December 2023, it was the busiest station in West Yorkshire, as well as in Yorkshire & the Humber, and the entirety of Northern England. It is the second busiest station in the UK outside of London, after Birmingham New Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesterfield railway station</span> Railway station in Derbyshire, England

Chesterfield railway station serves the market town of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line. Four tracks pass through the station which has three platforms. It is currently operated by East Midlands Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Eurostar</span> Never-implemented Eurostar services from north of London

Regional Eurostar was a planned Eurostar train service from Paris and Brussels to locations in the United Kingdom to the north and west of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-speed rail in the United Kingdom</span>

High-speed rail in the United Kingdom is provided on five upgraded railway lines running at top speeds of 125 mph (200 km/h) and one purpose-built high-speed line reaching 186 mph (300 km/h).

Aberdeen Crossrail is a proposed railway development in Scotland, first proposed within the 2003 Scottish Strategic Rail Study. It is supported by Nestrans, the north-east of Scotland's voluntary regional transport partnership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Speed 2</span> British high-speed rail project

High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which is under construction in England. The route will be between Handsacre, in southern Staffordshire, and London, with a spur to Birmingham. HS2 is to be Britain's second purpose-built high-speed railway after High Speed 1, which connects London to the Channel Tunnel. London and Birmingham will be served directly by new high speed track, and services to Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester will use a mix of HS2 high speed track and the West Coast Main Line. The majority of the project is planned to be completed by 2033.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SYSTRA</span> French transit company

SYSTRA is a multinational engineering and consulting group in the mobility sector, whose fields of activity include rail and public transport. SYSTRA employs about 10,300 people worldwide, and is a limited company which shareholders include French national railway company SNCF, RATP, and various banks.

Heathrow Hub railway station was a proposed interchange that would serve – mainly – a now disbanded potential alignment of High Speed 2 (HS2) services that would adjoin the expanded part of Heathrow Airport, England. It was a cornerstone part of an expansion plan put forward in 2008, by engineering firm Arup, to set up the UK's first high-speed rail network north-west of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham Interchange</span> Future railway station in the West Midlands, England

Birmingham Interchange is a planned High Speed 2 railway station in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, expected to open in 2026.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Powerhouse Rail</span> Proposed railway network in the North of England

Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), sometimes referred to unofficially as High Speed 3, is a proposed major rail programme designed to substantially enhance the economic potential of the North of England. The phrase was adopted in 2014 for a project featuring new and significantly upgraded railway lines in the region. The aim is to transform rail services between the major towns and cities, requiring the region's single biggest transport investment since the Industrial Revolution. The original scheme would have seen a new high-speed rail line from Liverpool to Warrington continuing to join the HS2 tunnel which it would share into Manchester Piccadilly station. From there, the line would have continued to Leeds with a stop at Bradford. The line was intended to improve journey times and frequency between major Northern cities as well as creating more capacity for local service on lines that express services would have been moved out from.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of High Speed 2</span>

The history of High Speed 2 is the background to the planned construction of High Speed 2 (HS2), a new high-speed railway in Great Britain that would connect London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and other cities in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HS4Air</span> 2018 proposal for a high-speed rail link between HS2, Heathrow, Gatwick and HS1

HS4Air is a proposal for a 140-kilometre (87 mi) high-speed railway line in the United Kingdom, put forward in 2018 by a British engineering consultancy, Expedition Engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avanti West Coast</span> British train operating company

Avanti West Coast is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership.

Sir Douglas Edwin Oakervee FHKIE is a British civil engineer who is a past chairman of both High Speed 2 and Crossrail, and was the 139th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was awarded the CBE in 2010 for his contributions to civil engineering and appointed Knight bachelor in 2022 for services to transport and infrastructure delivery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colne Valley Viaduct</span> HS2 Railway Bridge in Harefield

The Colne Valley Viaduct is a bridge, under construction as of 2024, which will carry the High Speed 2 railway over the Colne Valley Regional Park and the Grand Union Canal, in Hillingdon, west London. When completed, its length of 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi) and a weight of 116,000 tonnes will make it the largest railway bridge in the UK. It is one of the largest single civil engineering works of HS2 Phase 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Integrated Rail Plan</span>

The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands or more simply, the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), is a United Kingdom government proposal published on 18 November 2021. It aims to deliver "increased capacity, faster journeys or more frequent services on eight out of the top ten busiest rail corridors across the North and Midlands", by developing rail services along with the required infrastructure in these regions of England. It was published by the Department for Transport (DfT) and features forewords by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, but its publication was delayed a number of times, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains the significant proviso that "In line with the Government's existing approach to rail enhancements, commitments will be made only to progress individual schemes up to the next stage of development, subject to a review of their readiness." A Technical Annexe was published in January 2022. A correction slip was issued March 2022.

References

  1. ↑ Lancefield, Neil (25 September 2023). "Rail experts say downscaling HS2 would be 'commercial and operational mess'". The Independent. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  2. ↑ Beattie, Kieran (3 November 2020). "Rail expert on how to address consumer confidence as line reopens months after Stonehaven tragedy". The Press & Journal. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  3. ↑ "Contact us". University of Edinburgh School of Engineering. 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  4. ↑ Guardado, Elmer (20 August 2018). "Sustainable Public Transport: Is it Possible? with Gareth Dennis of Permanent Rail Engineering". Market Scale. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  5. ↑ Dale, Tim; Ingall, Tom (6 June 2023). "Doncaster HS2 college closure kick in the shins says business group". BBC News. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  6. ↑ Cordero Sapién, Josephine (16 September 2020). "Franchising is Dead: A Conversation with Gareth Dennis". Railway News. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  7. ↑ "Biggest influencers in railways in Q3 2020: The top individuals to follow". Railway Technology. 3 November 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  8. ↑ "Gareth Dennis' Profile". MuckRack. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  9. ↑ "Written evidence submitted by Gareth Dennis (IRP0090)". Integrated Rail Plan - Committees - UK Parliament. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  10. ↑ Cowen, Ailsa (18 January 2021). "Ep. 25 The industry needs to take matters into its own hands, Gareth Dennis". Rail Technology Magazine. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  11. ↑ Green, Kathy (4 October 2023). "Scrapping northern leg of HS2 would be bitter blow - York campaigner". Rayo. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  12. ↑ Bartlett, Charlie (20 October 2023). "Mourning the demise of HS2 extension, with RailNatter's Gareth Dennis". The Loadstar. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  13. ↑ Wilks, Rebecca (2 May 2022). "Gareth Dennis on HS2 and how we could fix the railway and train system in Wales". Western Telegraph. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  14. ↑ "Time for a rail revolution: We ask transport expert Gareth Dennis to design a new rail network for South Yorkshire". Sheffield Tribune. 18 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.(subscription required)
  15. ↑ "Gareth Dennis wins Young Rail Professional Distinguished Service Award 2024". SYSTRA. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  16. ↑ "How the Railways Will Fix the Future by Gareth Dennis". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.