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

Sunday, 22 May 2016

BBC News

• Tube station evacuated due to smoke bombA Tube station is evacuated after football fans heading to Wembley stadium set off a smoke bomb and fire alarms.

The Telegraph

• Patrick McLoughlin interview: Brexit would push up ticket prices and threaten our car industryIn an interview with The Telegraph, he warns that there is “an unknown risk” that the “long term future” of the UK’s highly successful motor industry could go the way of the coal mines, if Britain withdraws from the EU’s free trade zone.

Times Online

• Arriva faces northern exposure amid inquiry [subscription]The stuttering rail franchise system has been thrown into disarray after the Competition and Markets Authority launched an unprecedented investigation into the transport department’s decision to award the Northern Rail network to Arriva.
• Take the Scandinavian slow train [Subscription]It’s a hot day and our train, which is clattering along a bumpy line beside the lakes and rivers of Sweden, suddenly judders to a halt. Is there a points failure, a problem on the track or an overheated engine? No, it seems it’s the train driver who needs to cool off — he strips to his swimming costume and invites us to join him for a dip in the lake’s pellucid waters.

Daily Express

• Network Rail staff spend OVER £600k a year on FLIGHTSSTAFF at track operator Network Rail spent more than £600,000 on flights last year.

Lincolnshire Echo

• Faster trains between Lincoln and Nottingham from todayNew and quicker services from East Midlands Trains between Lincoln, Newark and Nottingham, start today.

Liverpool Echo

• Welsh MP calls for 'quick' completion of Halton Curve rail lineA North Wales MP has called for the completion of £17.86m redevelopment of the Halton Curve rail line to take place ‘quickly’.

Blackpool Gazette

• Tram plans moving forwardAmbitious plans to extend Blackpool’s historic tramway could move a step closer to reality next week.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Train services returning to normal after ice-cream van gets trapped under low bridge in SuffolkSuffolk trains were delayed today after an ice-cream van got stuck under a low railway bridge at Needham Market.

Other Regional Press

• YOUR LETTERS: Network Rail action will decimate wildlife Not satisfied with causing havoc in Spalding due to problems with the level crossings and the long delays they bring, Network Rail now plans to cut down all the trees, bushes and vegetation adjacent to the railway line and replace them with a fence.
• MPs voice concern at peak time rail timetable changesTHE two MPs for Milton Keynes have voiced their concern at the announcement this week that Virgin Trains is to amend its evening peak services calling at Milton Keynes Central.

Rail Magazine

• Carne orders inquiry after Network Rail's Flying Scotsman Borders debacleNetwork Rail Chief Executive Mark Carne to launch investigation into gauge clearance problems that almost prevented Flying Scotsman running on Borders line .
• Five Hitachi Class 385 bodyshells heading for UKFive Class 385 bodyshells are due to arrive in the UK this month, while in Japan the first completed ‘385’ is undergoing testing.

Railway Gazette

• More Bombardier LRVs ordered for KarlsruheGERMANY: Karlsruhe tram-train operator AVG signed a €59·5m contract with Bombardier Transportation...
• RegioJet looks to expandCZECH REPUBLIC: Private operator RegioJet has applied for train paths to launch a new open access...

Other News Sources

• Network Rail considers new gantriesCONSULTATION on new, slimmer steel gantries for the railway line through Goring will be held in September.