the day we caught the train

café ABsite Transport Café ~ rail

`Never saw it as the start`

I was always interested in transport

`It's more a change of heart`

Since the privatisation of the UK rail network, my focus has changed from being car and bus based to rail based.

full lyrics by Ocean Colour Scene

Railways hold a deep fascination. Few other subjects encompass both technical aspects such as wheelslip and scheduling, with a strong artistic sense, and have produced engineering feats which continue to inspire, even after 200 years. I have what I hope is the vision to spot how and where improvements can be made in the way we travel by rail, from service reliability to catering. The privatised railway claims to be customer focused, but how many of us can really see that when waiting for that delayed train on the platform or after standing for 2 hours?

Research Outputs

During my MRes degree, my project on rail access to out of town shopping centres was part of a wider project:

Promoting change of mode in transport, MRes Built Environment group project website, 2000

As a rail researcher at Loughborough University's Transport Studies Group, I worked on a project investigating rail timetabling.

An international comparison of railway organisational and planning frameworks, presented at the Universities' Transport Study Group conference in Edinburgh, 2002.

PDF, Size: 1.1Mb - requires Adobe Reader or equivalent

Objectives and concepts of timetable planning in Britain, by Robert Watson & Anzir Boodoo, presented at a conference organised for an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council project on rail systems in York, 2002

Microsoft PowerPoint, Size: 78k - requires PowerPoint, Keynote, OpenOffice or equivalent

Using network capacity effectively where train operators compete for paths - the UK experience, by Robert Watson, David Gillingwater & Anzir Boodoo, presented at the World Congress on Railway Research, Edinburgh, 2003

PDF, Size: 140k - requires Adobe Reader or equivalent

The effect of competitive capacity allocation on UK railway timetabling, by Anzir Boodoo, David Gillingwater & Robert Watson, presented at the Association of European Transport's European Transport Conference in Strasbourg, 2003

PDF, Size: 828k - requires Adobe Reader or equivalent

Other rail stuff

The effects of weather on railway operation, notes from a conference given by the Royal Meteorological Society in 1999.
An RER for London, proposals from Planning Professor Peter Hall's 1988 book "London 2001"
The structure of the UK railway, a condensed version of the 2002 UTSG paper, focusing on the UK.

RossRail is part rail industry spoof, part vision of what a money-no-object railway could be
Network SoreFeet welcomes you to Deadhill
RailwayLines is an attempt to collect railway poetry on the web

Rail links

Train service and running information from National Rail
Chester-le-Track is your local travel office, wherever you are
Clive Feather collects information on signalling and ticket validity - CORE tells you available routes between two stations
The Devil's Guide (requires free registration), is a valuable source of technical information
The Greater Manchester Rail Travel Guide by Alex Holden

< The Transport Café

Never saw it as the start

It's more a change of heart

full lyrics by Ocean Colour Scene

© A.Boodoo, 31-May-04, r1.6

`Never saw it as the start`

`It's more a change of heart`