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

Sunday, 22 April 2018

BBC News

• Three-way fightOnce synonymous with cheap flights and pre-breakfast pints - is Stansted Airport about to become glamorous?
• Will Africa's open skies project take off?Challenges lay ahead for Africa's airlines as they are granted greater access to the continent.

ITV News

• Wildlife campaigners claim Network Rail's contractors have "destroyed vital habitat"Network Rail has been criticised for cutting down trees and bushes which wildlife campaigners claim is vital habitat at this time of year. The company cleared trackside areas between Bournemouth and Christchurch - and says it's part of it's plan to manage vegetation and avoid trains colliding with fallen trees or large branches.

The Guardian

• Dieselgate leaves UK’s car industry in crisisSales have slumped in the scandal’s wake and left manufacturers gasping for a breath of fresh air
• Abellio, NS and why the Amsterdam express always goes via DublinThe Dutch state railway is under serious fire for leasing its trains in low-tax Ireland. And it’s not the only operator to do so

The Herald

• Dozen trains used by ScotRail moved to England despite chronic overcrowding issuesA DOZEN trains used by ScotRail have been moved to England despite services in Scotland facing chronic overcrowding.

The Independent

• Earth Day: Technology designed to clean air in schools and hospitals trialled in London 'pollution pods'Installation recreates conditions in both most and least polluted places across the world and uses innovative device to produce 'cleanest air in UK'
• Hundreds of planes in US and EU to undergo emergency inspections after fatal explosion on Southwest flightThe announcement comes following the death of a woman who was almost sucked out of an aircraft window

The Scotsman

• Rail policing merger report raises new fears over safetyThe merger of British Transport Police (BTP) with Police Scotland risks creating life-threatening safety issues and will cost up to an extra £500,000 per officer, a damning new document says.
• Leith councillor launches campaign against tram extensionINDEPENDENT councillor Lewis Ritchie has launched a campaign against the proposed tram extension, claiming it will devastate local businesses.

Times Online

• Curbs on fines for bus lane motorists [Subscription]Motorists who illegally drive in bus lanes will avoid a fine for a first offence after councils were criticised for fleecing them on an “industrial scale”.
• Rail pain piles up as five operators totter [Subscription]Even as delays soar, a stand-off with Network Rail may force train operators to scale back planned improvements

Reuters News

• Uber CEO and transport boss had second meeting over London license battleLONDON (Reuters) - London’s Transport Commissioner Mike Brown met Uber [UBER.UL]boss Dara Khosrowshahi in January, a freedom of information request revealed, as the Silicon Valley app fights to keep its cars on the streets of its most important European market.

City AM

• England's drivers completed the equivalent of 989 return trips to Mars on roads in one yearCar sales may be declining, but the time we spent in them certainly isn't: according to the Local Government Association (LGA), drivers in England spent more than one million years on the road in 2016 - the equivalent of 989 return trips to Mars.

Northern Echo

• Experimental rail vehicle at Locomotoin tells story of high-speed rail in the UKA historic vehicle which represents a landmark in rail travel has been donated to The National Railway Museum. The nationally significant High-Speed Freight Vehicle 1 (HSFV1) has been donated to Locomotion in Shildon by the APT-E-Support Group.

Wales Online

• Trains delayed and replaced with buses on Valleys lineTrains had to replace buses on a Valleys line after a problem with a river bridge.

Other Regional Press

• Tube fare dodging is costing TfL millions of poundsFare dodgers on the London Underground have cost Transport for London (TfL)nearly £2million over the last four years.

Other News Sources

• Photos from the disused tunnels now helping the Bank tube station upgradeDeep under the City of London lies its oldest deep level tube station, in use for less than a decade before it closed in 1900, it’s about to get a new lease of life.
• The world’s most famous transport system could soon be too hot to rideLondon's network of underground tunnels is dangerously close to the limited amount of heat that it can absorb
• ScotRail rolling stock leave for England leaving ScotRail shortA dozen ScotRail trains have left for Northern Rail in England, leaving Scottish services short at a time when trains are routinely packed.