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

Tuesday, 19 March 2019

BBC News

• Emiliano Sala plane crash: Call to investigate more flightsA series of flights around the Cardiff City striker transfer should be investigated, says aviation body.
• Lord Winston calls for cycling licences to improve road safetyA Labour peer's concerns are echoed by others in the House of Lords worried about
• Equal Pay Day: Cheaper travel for Berlin womenBerlin public transport gives women 21% off fares to highlight the gender pay gap.
• Eurostar industrial action continues to hit services from ParisSevere disruption on Paris-to-London services continues on another day of industrial action.
• EasyJet withdraws from proposed Alitalia consortiumBudget airline withdraws from a potential partnership that was exploring future options for Alitalia.
• Boeing: French investigators find crash 'similarities'French air crash investigators say there are

ITV News

• Massive rail project, designed to reduce delaysNetwork Rail will, next week, start its biggest ever project to cut delays which cause frustration for thousands of passengers in the south.

Department for Transport

• Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeysReview announced in government's 'Future of mobility: urban strategy' to explore regulation around new transport modes.

The Guardian

• How public transport actually turns a profit in Hong KongThe Hong Kong MTR’s ‘rail plus property’ model keep fares cheap and makes the company completely self-sustaining. Could loss-making metro systems in other cities learn lessons?

Times Online

• Boeing told to release files over ties to regulator after Ethiopian crash [Subscription]Boeing and US aviation regulators are under investigation in Washington amid suspicion that lax practices led to an unsafe system on new airliners that have crashed twice in five months.
• £4bn ‘trackless tram’ to reduce congestion in Cambridge [Subscription]Britain’s first battery-powered “trackless” tram could be built under plans to drastically cut congestion in Cambridge.
• Push to let electric scooters on to roads for the first timeElectric scooters could be allowed on Britain’s roads for the first time under a wide-ranging review of traffic laws.
• Boeing shares down as US prosecutors investigate jet safety [Subscription]Investors knocked a further $4 billion off the value of Boeing yesterday after it emerged that American prosecutors and government officials were investigating the safety of its 737 Max jet.

The Telegraph

• Air pollution is the health crisis of our age, so why are we still getting log burners and jogging in cities? [Subscription]n the centre of Tim Smedley’s living room is a cavernous Victorian fireplace, exactly the width and depth that would be the perfect fit for a wood burning stove. It was the first thing he and wife, Patricia Brekke, thought when they moved to their Banbury terraced home in 2016. But then the sustainability journalist started researching a book on air pollution and realised he just couldn't.
• Electric scooters should be allowed on Britain's roads for the first time, minister says [Subscription]Britain’s roads look set to be flooded with a host of new electric vehicles as the Government today announces a radical review of transport laws dating back 180 years.
• Virgin air stewards threaten Easter strike as they claim 'unfair' pay package will make them worse off [Subscription]Sir Richard Branson is planning to cut air stewards' pay below the minimum wage, whistle-blowers claim, as they threaten strike action over Easter.

Sky News

• Former transport secretary Ruth Kelly to join Heathrow boardHeathrow Airport Holdings will announce the appointment of Ruth Kelly to its board this week

Liverpool Post

• The posh new Airbus business class seats revealed by British AirwaysThe airline is having a major overhaul of its business class seating after being accused of lagging behind rival airline

London Evening Standard

• Crossrail delays close vital staff footpath to factory adding extra 20 minutes to commutesGoing the extra mile for your job is always encouraged, but for hundreds of staff at the Tate & Lyle factory it has been an inconvenient necessity.
• British Airways launch new business class suites complete with a sliding door The suites will be available in new aircrafts from July
• London Tube staff reveal scale of abuse by passengers as study shows one in five have been assaultedOne in five London Underground workers have been assaulted by passengers and one in 10 have been sexually harassed, research has shown.

Rail Magazine

• Hull Trains ‘802/3s’ being readied for November startAll five Class 802/3s for Hull Trains are in various stages of construction at Hitachi’s facility in Pistoia (Italy), and will be delivered by rail to Newton Aycliffe later this year.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Ashford Blyth and Tyne line reopening mulled over in six 'quick win' rail projects for northern transport A series of ‘quick wins’ have been identified to fix the “current crisis” in the north’s transport network in a report by the IPPR. Following the publication of Transport for the North’s (TfN) Strategic Transport Plan (STP), the IPPR said a potential future...
• WYCA calls for 'significant reform' to rail system in submission to Williams ReviewThe West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has called for “significant reforms” to the current system for commissioning and operating rail services in its submission to the Williams Review. The combined authority has stated that the current system “is not working for the...

Aviation Industry

• France moves closer toward Paris airports privatizationThe French parliament has approved a law governing the plan to reduce the state’s majority stake in Groupe ADP, bringing privatization of the Paris airports operator a step closer. read more
• Court gives final approval for third runway at Vienna AirportAustria’s Supreme Administrative Court has granted permission for Vienna Airport to add a third runway. read more
• EasyJet withdraws from Alitalia investment talksUK LCC easyJet has taken itself out of the running to invest in Alitalia—the latest twist in the long-running rescue process for the bankrupt Italian carrier. read more
• British Airways unveils new business-class cabinBritish Airways (BA) has provided the first glimpse of its new Club World long-haul business-class cabin as it prepares for a public unveiling at London Heathrow Airport March 19. read more
• DOT investigating FAA certification of 737 MAXThe US Department of Transportation (DOT) is investigating FAA’s certification process for Boeing 737 MAX family aircraft, adding to mounting pressure on the agency and the manufacturer following the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302. read more
• Embraer CEO to step down April 22Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva will step down as chief executive of Embraer on April 22, and an unidentified, external successor will be named on or before then, the Brazilian manufacturer announced late March 18. read more

Other News Sources

• Rail 871: The Crossrail mystery – and how the USA does not understand railThe awful year in 2018 endured by the railways might have been leavened somewhat had Crossrail opened on time. In reality, that was never going to happen. While working on my book, The Crossrail Story, over the first half of last year, I was frequently in the Crossrail offices in Canary Wharf and I could see that behind the promises that the scheme was ‘on time, on budget’, there were severe doubts among the senior executives that the December 9th deadline would ever be met.
• HS2 chair does not expect to be given any more cashThe man in charge at HS2 has revealed he does not expect any more money to be made available for the project.
• New Cleethorpes Cycle Hub launched as railway station building brought back to lifeThe redundant former station master's office at Cleethorpes railway station has been turned into a new cycle hub in a £500,000 transformation
• Which Dorset railways stations would you like to see re-opened?Would it be the old Wimborne to Blandford line? Or as far west as the station at Lyme Regis?