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

Saturday, 05 September 2015

BBC News

• Battling against BeechingFighting for the return of long-lost rail routes.
• VIDEO: Call to reopen St Andrews railwayCampaigners are calling for the railway line between Levenmouth and St Andrews to be reopened.
• New city rail bridge formally openedA new £3.5m pedestrian bridge over the railway line in Dundee is officially opened by city MSP Joe Fitzpatrick.
• 'Golden' trip on Borders RailwayA group of specially selected passengers takes a trip on the Borders to Edinburgh railway a day ahead of its opening to the general public.

Financial Times

• Scottish Borders railway opensLine’s prospects likely to influence transport policy across UK

The Guardian

• Borders railway reopens signalling fresh hope for more Scottish linesHaving waited 45 years to bring back the Waverley line, supporters are stressing the benefits of further rail development David Shirres was a passenger on the very last train to leave Edinburgh on the Waverley line just before it was axed as part of the Beeching cuts. He remembers the “plummyâ€�, precise accent of the station announcer just before the sleeper to London pulled away on 5 January 1969.Then a trainee railway engineer aged 19, Shirres also remembers that the train’s journey south was heavily disrupted by furious locals blockading the track, despite a police guard, delaying its progre...

The Herald

• 46 year wait is over as Borders Railway launches passenger journeysIT is 46 years and eight months to the day since the last train linking the Scottish Borders to the capital rolled into Edinburgh Waverley.

The Scotsman

• Borders railway to make first passenger journeyHUNDREDS of passengers will today be among the first for nearly half a century to take a train to the central Borders, ahead of tomorrow’s historic line re-opening.

London Evening Standard

• New Cross commuters face more travel delays after vehicle strikes bridgeCommuters travelling through New Cross faced another morning of disrupted travel after a vehicle struck a bridge near the station.
• Tube delays due to overcrowding hit five-year high, new figures showTube delays caused by overcrowding have reached a five-year high, new figures have shown.

The York Press

• Grandmother injured after falling from train A GRANDMOTHER who was injured when she fell from a train after the staff assistance she prearranged failed to turn up is due to receive compensation from Virgin Trains.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• New Felixstowe train for BIFTMaritime Transport has secured a new service at its Birmingham Intermodal Freight Terminal (BIFT) at Birch Coppice.  The new daily container service operated by GB Railfreight (GBRf), runs between the Port of Felixstowe (Port) and BIFT and is the latest rail path to be released by Hutchison Ports, the owners of the Port. The 31st path is the only service between the country’s biggest container port and BIFT and will provide a vital connection to the large manufacturing and consumer conurbation in the West Midlands.  'BIFT is an important strategic freight interchange in the W...
• Hull rail firm to buy 140mph trainsA rail company is investing £68m in a fleet of faster trains to ensure shorter journey times to London. Hull Trains said it was buying five trains capable of running on either electricity-powered routes or with diesel fuel. The firm said the trains had been bought because of delays in country-wide electrification of the rail network The trains are expected to be running by 2020, the company said. In a statement, Hull Trains said the speeds of up to 140mph would be reached compared with the current 125mph of Hull Trains' Class 180 units. Will Dunnett, managing director of Hull Trains,...

Rail Technology Magazine

• Hitachi opens first train manufacturing plant in UK Hitachi Rail has opened a rail manufacturing facility in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, UK, to manufacture InterCity Express (IEP) trains.

Railnews

• European Commission under fire for refusing railfreight grant Seven MEPs in East Anglia and the Midlands are urging the European Commission to reconsider its decision to refuse funding for a railfreight upgrade in the region. The Commission has declined to support a scheme to increase capacity for freight trains between Felixstowe and the West Midlands, but the MEPs are arguing that the rules appear to favour land frontiers, which puts Britain at a disadvantage. Writing in Railnews, GB Railfreight managing director John Smith has warned that capacity upgrades in the region for railfreight are 'vital'.

Railway Gazette

• Farnworth Tunnel enlargement delayed by poor ground conditions UK: ‘Exceptionally poor’ ground conditions have delayed the project to enlarge Farnworth Tunnel to...