Good afternoon and welcome to the Reasons to be Cheerful train service from here to the Geoffocracy. Yes, we're talking trains. How have we gotten into ourselves here? Billions of government subsidies and eye-watering prices. What is to be done? Andrew Adonis, who used to be Transport Secretary, Anton Valk, who used to help run the Dutch public railway & Nicole Badstuber, academic expert join us to reason it out. Plus Geoff tells all about his trainspotting past.ANDComedian Ahir Shah joins us to share his ideas of what could keep us cheerful this year.  FURTHER READINGhttp://www.transportforqualityoflife.com/u/files/120630_Rebuilding_Rail_Final_Report_print_version.pdf https://open.spotify.com/user/21kairhjm62hs7kuhpbogmi7y/playlist/2TEVp3NPQOj5JSEuYSxhD9 http://theconversation.com/the-case-for-re-nationalising-britains-railways-45963 http://podcast.londonreconnections.com/ https://twitter.com/lonrec https://twitter.com/GeorgeLakoff/status/948424436058791937   CONTACT USreasons@cheerfulpodcast.comhttps://www.facebook.com/reasonstobecheerfulpodcasthttps://twitter.com/cheerfulpodcastLeave us a voicemail on skype - search for "Cheerful Podcast"CONTACT OUR GUESTSAndrew Adonis - https://twitter.com/Andrew_AdonisNicole Badstuber - https://twitter.com/NicoleBadstuberAhir Shah - https://twitter.com/AhirShah Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.