Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Saturday, 30 August 2014

BBC News

• Single ticket travel plan for regionThe next phase in plans for a major overhaul of public transport in south east Wales reveals a vision for a rapid one-ticket system for travellers.
• Bus and tram in Edinburgh collisionA bus and a tram collide as they travel east towards Princes Street during the rush hour in Edinburgh.
• Airport increases drop-off chargesEdinburgh Airport is to increase charges for drivers who take more than five minutes to drop off passengers at the terminal building.
• Rolling road closures for Nato marchPeople are warned of
• MH17 crash: Briton's body identifiedThe Foreign Office confirms the body of John Alder, one of 10 Britons killed in the Malaysia Airlines crash, has been identified.

Financial Times

• Flyers have the right to reclineBeing cramped is better than being put in handcuffs and passengers should try to calm down
• Underwhelmed response for Ryanair’s business-liteFlexible tickets offer has left some corporate travellers underwhelmed by the prospect of sharing space with beer-swilling tourists

The Guardian

• Malaysia Airlines cuts 6,000 jobsMalaysia Airlines is to slash its staff numbers by a third, cutting 6,000 jobs, after the airline suffered the two worst disasters in modern aviation only five months apart. The carrier had been struggling financially even before the disasters that beset it this year, starting with the unexplained disappearance of flight MH370 with 239 people aboard in March.
• Heathrow boss urges Boris Johnson to back third runwayHeathrow has appealed to the London mayor, Boris Johnson, to back its campaign for a third runway, ahead of the possible dismissal of his own Thames estuary scheme from consideration by the Airports Commission. In an open letter to the mayor, Heathrow's recently appointed chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, reminds Johnson that they share the same belief that only a large, hub airport can provide the scale and range of global flights that the economy needs.

The Herald

• Fears of petrol rises send sales tumblingFEARS of a 4p-a-litre rise in prices at the pumps sent petrol sales crashing to an all-time July low.
• 6,000 jobs go at Malaysia Airlines MALAYSIA Airlines is to axe 6,000 jobs, around a third of the workforce, as it struggles to overcome the twin disasters that have hit it this year.
• Business leaders react with anger to £1.5m bus gate finesBUSINESS leaders have reacted with fury as it was revealed that fines for motorists driving through a new bus gate have topped £1.5 million.
• Airport accused of profiteering over tripling of car drop-off chargeEDINBURGH Airport has been accused of
• Safety call after collision between bus and tram jams up capitalA CALL has been made for an immediate review into traffic safety after a collision between a bus and a tram in the Scottish capital.
• Captain says disaster ship not checked THE captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing around 300 people told a court yesterday he was just following practice in not making safety checks before the vessel set off.
• Car hits bus stop on busy city routeTWO women have been taken to hospital after a car crashed into a bus stop in one of Glasgow's busiest routes.
• Network Rail is on a new track POLITICIANS will have a direct say in the level of bonuses for Network Rail bosses after changes to the company's structure.

The Scotsman

• Edinburgh trams: Drivers identify 3 safety risksTRANSPORT chiefs have been urged to resolve a series of alleged faults on Edinburgh tram vehicles, including faulty windscreen heaters, broken warning bells and problems with safety cameras.

The Telegraph

• Boris Johnson 'will not surrender' over Estaury airportBoris Johnson has sent a strong signal that he will not surrender over “Boris Island”, a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary, despite expectations that the scheme will be shelved for good by the Airports Commission next week.
• Could your task disc be worth £1000? Paper tax discs will be worthless from October 2015 – but for a few British drivers they could be an unexpected money spinner. The rarest paper discs can be traded for hundreds of pounds each by enthusiastic collectors, sometimes known as “velologists”.
• Young actress hit by train while trying to retrieve dogYasmin Jones, a member of street theatre company in Liverpool, was hit by a train at a level crossing that is scheduled to be replaced with a footbridge

Network Rail

• Network Rail Members vote for changeAt a general meeting today, 97.3% of Network Rail's 41 Members (the company's equivalent of shareholders) voted to change the company's articles of association.
• Tours of Kintbury signal box prove popular with local residentsOver 70 local residents took up the offer of a tour of Kintbury signal box, after Network Rail invited the community to the information events to find out more about how the railway works. The tours proved to be so popular that an extra one was organised to keep up with demand.

London Evening Standard

• Smelly passengers and sneezing are Tube commuters' biggest bugbears, poll shows London commuters today vented their anger at fellow passengers’ most annoying habits with poor body hygiene and spreading germs top of their list of bugbears.
• Interview: Terry Morgan, Crossrail - The tunnel visionary driving a fast track underneath London As we stand at the tunnel opening in hard hats and high-viz jackets, the hoardings behind which Londoners buzz down Dean Street into Soho can be seen 30 metres above.
• Road test: Land Rover Discovery HSE Lux It’s easy to forget when you’re cruising the motorway or nosing elegantly through town that you’re not at the wheel of a plush limo but of, possibly, the pinnacle of Land Rover’s “go-anywhereâ€� design technology: the Discovery.
• Tube needs more click-and-collect and fewer tatty shops, says TfL chief Click-and-collect services should be rolled out across the Tube network, with “tattyâ€� shops at stations replaced by upmarket stores, says Transport for London’s  retail chief.
• Tourists affected by collapse of travel companies will not be stranded Tourists affected by the collapse of two travel companies will be able to fly home as planned, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Nottingham Post published Lucy Whitaker: More common sense is needed when it comes to speed...ROAD safety, and the methods used to ensure it, are important but controversial issues. Speed is a contributory factor in a significant number of road accidents and speed cameras play an important role in maintaining road safety.Many people forget that the primary role of speed cameras is to keep people safe, and without them, few motorists would have an incentive to keep to the speed limit.However, speed limits are arbitrary figures and this can result in typically law-abiding drivers being...

Sheffield Star

• Further Sheffield gritting cuts ‘can’t be ruled out’Yet more cuts to gritting services could be made, it has been revealed, after revised plans were agreed to reduce the number of roads treated.

Yorkshire Post

• Network Rail joins public sector and its bosses bonuses are clippedPoliticians will now have a direct say in the level of bonuses for Network Rail bosses after changes to the company’s structure were agreed.
• Steam fans fuming after ban on seaside services follows line fireRAIL enthusiasts have criticised a decision to suspend the famous steam trains which have run from York through Ryedale and Malton to Scarborough each summer, following a fire.

Bucks Free Press

• Councillors concerned about junction 3a plans CONCERNED councillors have spoken out about a proposal to build a motorway junction in Flackwell Heath, and they now hope to put the brakes on any future development.

Carlisle News & Star

• Campaign to reopen disused Carlisle viaduct gains crucial support Success seems ever more likely for a hard-fought campaign to reopen a disused former railway viaduct.
• Mum calls for probe into crash in Cumbria which killed son A grieving mother whose firefighter son died after his car hit a damaged bridge parapet has asked police to investigate the tragedy afresh.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Network Rail boss says he will take every step to avoid long delays as he confirms planned Ipswich engineering work will go aheadNetwork Rail has pledged to “take every step” to avoid a repeat of the long delays and cancellations which hit rail commuters this week as it confirmed it would go ahead with planned engineering work in Ipswich this weekend,

North Wales Live

• Liverpool set to lure bigger ships into cruise terminal next year Cruise lines increasing capacity

Other Regional Press

• Solent ships in challenge VESSELS from the Solent are among 46 crafts taking part in a special nautical challenge.
• Cycle hire scheme could be coming to Southampton IT is the pedal powered scheme that transformed the City of London’s transport system – and it could be coming to Southampton.
• Cyclists want end to cars on bike lane CYCLISTS have backed a councillor’s call for double yellow lines to be painted along the length of Donnington Bridge Road in Oxford.
• Link road 'too low-priority' to be given £12m funding A PLANNED new link road in North Oxford did not win Government funding because it was not listed as a priority, the leader of Oxford City Council has said.
• Cyclists rush in as 'Boris bikes' are relaunched MORE than 200 people have signed up for Oxford’s “Boris bikeâ€� scheme after it relaunched earlier this summer.
• New major city roadworks ‘will not hit commuters’ AFTER years of waiting, work on redeveloping Frideswide Square is to start on Monday – and council officials have promised the first stage of the work will not affect people’s journeys to work.
• Motorway closures to take place over the weekendDrivers using the M6 and M55 around Preston in Lancashire are being advised that some overnight carriageway closures will be taking place this weekend and on Monday night as part of the £7m pinch point widening improvements.

Aviation Industry

• Heathrow urges Boris to support bid for expansionCEO says Boris should back Heathrow’s plans if Thames Estuary bid fails
• Opinion: Time to resolve the debate over airline capacityGTMC CEO Paul Wait says less talk and more action is needed in the airport capacity debate