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

Thursday, 11 April 2024

BBC News

• Greater Anglia offers student placements at rail firmStudents have been offered the chance to take up roles with a train company so they can get an insight into how it operates.
• Northern to continue classical music at stations to deter bad behaviourRail firm Northern has said it will continue to play classical music at 35 stations to combat bad behaviour. Works "inspired by Handel, Beethoven and Mozart" are piped out over public address systems at certain times
• NI road defects cost over £25m in compensationThe Department for Infrastructure settled over 10,000 public liability claims between 2018 and 2023.
• Bid to save railway's 'spectacular' viaductEast Lancashire Railway volunteers are calling for community support to preserve a historical viaduct.

ITV News

• Labour pledges to end bus service 'postcode lottery' as services outside London have 'collapsed'Labour has pledged to end the "postcode lottery" of bus services by speeding up the franchising process.

Financial Times

• Former Rolls-Royce chief to chair UK's air traffic control providerWarren East takes over as company tries to recover from consequences of technical meltdown last summer
• Delta offers rare shelter from Boeing's plane production crisisThe Atlanta-based carrier has been the top performing airline stock over the past year
• Disjointed rail planning leaves UK train builders facing closure Jobs at risk in historic manufacturing hubs as government fails to bridge gaps in rolling stock orders
• Hedge fund takes on shipping magnates over oil tanker dealFourWorld takes legal action after egregious transaction that ended deadlock over ownership of oil shipping group Euronav

Times Online

• ScotRail passengers want an end to alcohol ban, poll shows. [subscription]More than half of travellers surveyed said they were in favour of the Covid-era ban being reversed

i News

• Revealed: Labour’s plan to fix bus crisis with public ownership of failing servicesEXCLUSIVEAreas where the plan is thought to be under consideration include Cambridgeshire, Liverpool, Peterborough and West Yorkshire - following a similar scheme in Manchester.
• Major HS2 factory facing closure… before it can make a single HS2 trainBIG READInside Britain's largest train factory, Alstom staff fear the Derby site will shut forever without immediate Government help

Labour Party

• Labour promises to allow every community to take back control of local bus servicesLabour’s shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh MP, has today [Thursday 11 April 2024] set out the party’s plans for a better busnetwork across England, with a promise to allow every community across the country to take back control of local bus services.

Network Rail

• Scotland’s two busiest railway stations are first in UK to install British Sign Language screensNetwork Rail has installed British Sign Language (BSL) customer information screens at Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central stations.
• Liam Sumpter appointed as new MD for Network Rail in ScotlandNetwork Rail has appointed Liam Sumpter to the role of Managing Director for Network Rail in Scotland. This follows the recent announcement that Alex Hynes has been seconded to the role of Director General, Rail Services at the Department for Transport for a period of two years. Liam will officially take up his new post, on secondment for the same two-year period, from Monday 15 April 2024.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Bus services forced to divert due to 'acts of vandalism'Some Bradford bus services have been forced to divert due to

Northern Echo

• HS2 funds reallocated to repair Durham & Darlington roadsFunds reallocated from the HS2 rail project have been given to local authorities to improve roads - including in County Durham and Darlington.

Wales Online

• Ryanair launches major expansion at Bristol AirportThe budget airline now has 20 times as many flights from Bristol as Cardiff

Other Regional Press

• 'Meet the Manager' event for rail passengers at Ely stationTrain passengers can ask rail managers and transport representatives questions about services and improvements during a ‘Meet the Manager’ event at Ely station.
• HS2's next steps as contractor sought for elevated transport systemHS2 says it is assessing the capacity of global suppliers to deliver the 'Automated People Mover'
• British Transport Police map shows crimes committed at every stationPOLICE are working 'relentlessly' to tackle crime on the railway network.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• New partnership to accelerate transition of zero-emission buses with £100m investmentRock Rail, the UK Infrastructure bank, HSBC UK and Aviva Capital Partners, have formed a new partnership providing funding for zero emissions bus financier ‘Rock Road.’

Rail Magazine

• Rail Minister marks completion of £150m Hope Valley Railway UpgradeMore reliable journeys are promised on the Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield after a £150 million upgrade was completed in early April.
• Can rail provide the services to match Gatwick Airport's growth ambition?Gatwick Airport has a great rail service. It’s been transformed by Thameslink’s expansion in the 2010s and now has a much wider range of direct trains.
• Island Line trains suffer wheelset problemsSouth Western Railway’s Vivarail Class 484 electric multiple units on the Isle of Wight have been suffering severe wheelset issues, allegedly caused by the track on the 8 ½-mile line between Ryde and Shanklin.
• Fleets due to come off-lease in next 12 months - some scrapped, some soldAs more new fleets come into traffic, plenty of trains currently in service should come off-lease in the next 12 months - some without new homes to go to.

Railtech

• Almost a quarter of Deutsche Bahn employees now womenThe railway industry, historically male-dominated, is witnessing an increasing presence of female colleagues across various roles, from train drivers to maintenance personnel. The number of women working at Deutsche Bahn (DB) continues to rise, reaching 55,000 nationwide, accounting for 24.1 per cent of the workforce, up from 23.6 per cent the previous year.

Railway Gazette

• TMA targets rail freight in Pays de la LoireFRANCE: Plans have been drawn up to launch an independent rail freight operation based in Pays de la Loire, to be known as Transport Multimodal Alliances.
• Separate MDs appointed for Network Rail Scotland and ScotRailUK: Separate Managing Directors have been appointed for infrastructure manager Network Rail in Scotland and for passenger train operator ScotRail, though the organisations have stressed their commitment to the current alliance model of close co-operation.

Transportxtra

• Passenger rail usage leaps 20% in last quarter of 2023A total of 417 million journeys were made by rail passengers in Great Britain in the latest quarter to 31 December 2023, the Latest ORR statistics reveal.

Other News Sources

• UK: Siemens Mobility to Deliver Signalling and Control Systems for Network RailSiemens Mobility has secured first place on Network Rail’s Train Control Systems Framework (TCSF), which will upgrade thousands of miles of Britain’s rail network.
• Maguire replaces Hynes as ScotRail managing directorScottish Rail has appointed Joanne Maguire (pictured) as interim managing director following Alex Hynes’ two-year secondment to the UK Government Department for Transport.
• Swindon roads being repaired using scrapped HS2 fundingSwindon is among the areas receiving instalments of £800 million of funding from the scrapped HS2 project.
• Glasgow Central is first station to introduce major changeGLASGOW Central is the first station in the UK to introduce a major new change.

News from Europe

• French rail operator Railcoop goes bustFrance’s first rail co-operative Railcoop announced its upcoming liquidation after facing a series of financial challenges. Launched in 2019, Railcoop was set up as a co-operative society of collective interest (SCIC) and had grown to include 14,500 members.