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

Thursday, 21 June 2012

BBC News

• Devon Tarka Line trains overcrowding 'madness' Overcrowding on trains in parts of Devon has been described as "madness".
• City tram boss pay-offs revealedThe directors of Edinburgh's failed trams company received hundreds of thousands of pounds in severance payments, it is revealed.
• Rail services plan to be outlinedScottish Transport Minister Keith Brown is due to outline his plans for train services, ahead of the current rail contract ending in 2014.
• Cable theft bid disrupts tramsTram services were disrupted in Greater Manchester when cable thieves damage a 1km stretch of overhead power line.
• Rail union Olympic strike ballotGreater Anglia rail staff are to be balloted for strike action in a row over extra payments during the Olympic Games.

The Herald

• Anger as £400,000 paid out to tram firm bossesPRESSURE is growing on the leaders of Edinburgh's failed tram company to forgo golden goodbyes worth hundreds of thousands of pounds paid out when the firm folded.

Network Rail

• LINCOLN LEVEL CROSSINGS, CONSULTATION EXTENDED IN RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INTEREST

Edinburgh Evening News

• Documents reveal Edinburgh tram bosses pocketed £800k in bonuses and compensation after Tie scrappedFORMER tram chiefs were paid around £800,000 after leaving the project, the Evening News can reveal today, as new documents exposed the extent of pay-offs and bonuses at TIE.

London Evening Standard

• Liverpool Street services targeted in new Olympic bonus strike ballotUnion leaders are to target Greater Anglia services into Liverpool Street for strike action in protest over alleged "inadequate" Olympic bonus payments.

Manchester Evening News

• Commuters hit by delays on Metrolink Bury line after thieves target cables in Bowker ValeCommuters have been hit by delays after trams were suspended on the Bury line. There is currently no service between Whitefield and Crumpsall.

Wales Online

• AMs in last-ditch push to secure electrification of South Wales rail networkWelsh AMs have made a last-ditch push to secure the electrification of the rail network across the South Wales Valleys and the Great Western line to Swansea.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Leeds Arch set to be painstakingly preserved in railway projectIt might not be the most impressive example of Leeds’s proud industrial heritage.

Global Rail News

• UK railways “ value for money?We are constantly being told by the popular media that Britain™s railways are less efficient and more costly than those of our European counterparts. So strong is this belief that successive governments have commissioned expensive consultative studies to determine the reason and to put forward recommendations by which this perception can be reversed. Imagine, therefore, [...]
• Collaboration to work on regenerative braking systemBombardier, Artemis Intelligent Power and Ricardo are collaborating on a research project to create a regenerative braking system suitable for diesel-powered multiple units. Commencing in the next five months, the three partners will work together on the Digital Displacement Rail Transmission with Flywheel Energy Storage Project, with some funding coming  from the UK government, which [...]
• Cosalt to move to new siteCosalt™s Workwear Division is moving to new improved premises in Stockport, Cheshire. The move to the new offices enables Cosalt to consolidate its workwear business departments and improve its services to discerning customers in the rail industry. Says Andy Hart, Marketing Manager, “There was a clear need for a more efficient office to improve our [...]
• Gatwick Express sees passenger increaseGatwick Express, the non-stop rail-air link between central London and Gatwick Airport, has seen a 17 per cent increase in passengers in the past year. The service continues to attract air passengers away from road and other rail services. Says Alex Foulds, Development Director for Southern Railway which now runs the Gatwick Express, ˜Considering the [...]
• Right royal welcome at Hitchin stationStaff at Hitchin station welcomed royalty last week when the Queen arrived as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour. More than 600 people lined up outside the station on June 14 armed with Union flags to welcome the Queen, who is celebrating 60 years on the throne this year. Her Majesty arrived on the Royal [...]
• Crossrail donation protects grassroots football teamA £4,000 donation from Crossrail has helped protect a grassroots youth football team which was threatened with closure. Premier League stars to come through the Tower Hamlets-based Senrab F.C. have included John Terry, Sol Campbell, Ledley King and Jermaine Defoe. A combination of spiralling costs and a lack of funding left the club’s survival in [...]
• Reward proposals œdivisive and wholly inadequate�, says rail unionRail union RMT has described Greater Anglia’s Olympics recognition and rewards proposals as “both divisive and wholly inadequate” as its members prepare for a ballot over strike action. The union announced today (June 20) it is making urgent preparations for a ballot for both strike action and action short of a strike of all members [...]

Other News Sources

• Bombardier offers charge on the go e-mobility solution ... While companies do not rule out a future for electric cars, they are yet to come out with a price and quality relevant vehicle to entice the discerning customers. And in such a scenario, Bombardier, a global leader in rail technology, has forcefully come out with a technology, which is simple (in scientific terms) but promises to reduce environmental degradation by redefining transportation and revolutionising electric mobility across the globe.
• HS2 Heathrow 'spur shocker' link revealed EVERYONE in the borough must get involved in the battle to stop HS2 after a major clue to the route of the Heathrow spur was revealed.
• RMT to ballot for action on Greater Anglia over Olympics paymentsRAIL UNION RMT announced today that it is making urgent preparations for a ballot for both strike action and action short of a strike of all members on the Greater Anglia franchise following Olympics recognition and reward proposals from the company that RMT dismissed as 'both divisive and wholly inadequate.'