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

Friday, 11 July 2008

BBC News

• School ask mayor for bus route [video]Students from a west London secondary school have written to London's mayor to stop public transport over-crowding by providing a dedicated school route.
• Cash back for tram gate driversThousands of drivers fined for using tram "gates" in a city centre are expected to have their claims for refunds approved by senior councillors
• Plans unveiled for city tram linkPlans for a new transport link between York, Harrogate and Leeds have been unveiled by council bosses.
• Fuel-hit bus routes keep runningScottish Borders Council has promised to keep all its bus services running after two firms gave up their contracts because of high fuel costs.
• Half Translink train seats emptyTrains in Northern Ireland have been operating with more than 250,000 empty seats every week.
• Road tax increase 'will hit 9.4m'More than nine million motorists will pay more road tax under reforms aimed at punishing

Financial Times

• Top Tui investors locked in conflictThe two biggest shareholders in Tui, the Hanover-based tourism and shipping conglomerate, look set for a struggle to influence the group's future direction after both sought to increase their stakes. John Fredriksen, the Norwegian shipping magnate and largest single shareholder, wants to see Hapag-Lloyd, the company's container shipping business, spun off and money from any sale handed to shareholders.
• Hitachi in race for large UK train orderThe Japanese group pre-qualifies to bid for a £1.4bn contract to build 1,100 carriages, underlining the serious competitive threat it poses to Europe's big trainmakers

The Guardian

• Battle against Toad's road rageSales of gas-guzzling cars have collapsed in North America and are dropping fast in Britain. But it is market forces, oil at $140 a barrel, which is finally curbing the motorist's appetite for expensive driving, not the government's green tax changes.
• Pay as you go[Nick Clegg] Let's abolish vehicle excise duty and cut fuel tax. We should be charging people to use the motorways instead
• End of the runwayLondon's airports are an environmental and economic mess, made worse by government indecision. Ministers are not brave enough to rule out the massive expansion of Heathrow and Stansted, as they should, and nor do they seem prepared to tackle their inadequate private operator, BAA.
• Rolls-Royce teams up with British Airways to test new plane fuelsRolls-Royce and British Airways are teaming up to conduct an in-depth study of using alternative fuels in the aviation industry.
• Cameron tells PM to apologise over car taxTreasury figures say 43% of motorists will be worse off when green tax change hits in 2010

The Herald

• Transport boostThe steep rise in fuel prices may yet succeed where environmental campaigns and government policies have failed, by persuading motorists to get out of their cars and on to buses and trains. The evidence from FirstGroup of an increase in the number of people using buses and trains over the past three months coincides with higher costs at the pumps and echoes the improved performances of two other transport groups, Stagecoach and National Express.
• Passengers numbers fall at Scottish airportsPassenger numbers at Scottish airports fell last month, fuelled by a drop in charter flights, according to figures published today.
• FirstGroup celebrates ’fantastic’ yearFirstGroup yesterday highlighted surging revenues in its UK bus and rail business in the first quarter of its new financial year
• Motorists say rising cost of fuel is driving them off roadsThe rising cost of fuel is likely to drive motorists to use buses and trains, according to a survey carried out for Britain’s biggest transport operator.

The Scotsman

• Ocean Terminal expansion plan shrinksA MASSIVE expansion of Edinburgh's main waterfront shopping complex has been scaled back over fears of the damage it will do to the city centre.
• Car tax change 'to hit poorest'Hundreds of thousands of low-income families will lose out under controversial changes to road tax, it has been claimed.

The Telegraph

• Has Labour forgotten the poor? More than nine million motorists will face road tax increases of up to £245 under Government reforms of Vehicle Excise Duty, the Treasury has admitted.

Times Online

• IEA says diesel prices will not ease until the new year High prices for diesel fuel will continue over the summer and may begin to ease only next year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which has given warning of continuing tightness in the world's refining markets.

Reuters News

• Airline CEOs ask customers to lobby Congress on oilNEW YORK (Reuters) - Major U.S. airlines asked customers on Thursday to lobby Congress on legislation to curb speculation in energy markets, which carriers blame for a 50 percent jump in fuel costs this year.

Transport Briefing

• Walsall-Wolverhampton rail route faces the axe againLocal train services between Wolverhampton and Walsall are scheduled to be withdrawn at the end of this year when a government funding commitment ends.
• £4m Bootle Oriel Road station upgrade completedNetwork Rail and passenger transport executive Merseytravel have completed a series of railway station improvements in Merseyside and north west England.

Airwise News

• Car sharing 'on the increase' [video]BBC television news programme Look North has found the number of people car sharing and cycling to work has increased as the price of fuel has continued to rise.

Belfast Telegraph

• Dempsey defends handling of Dublin Airport problemsTransport Minister Noel Dempsey has defended the way the Irish Aviation Authority has dealt with the collapse of the radar system at Dublin Airport yesterday.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Plush bus depot debutLOTHIAN Buses is hoping to finish the redevelopment of its Marine depot on Seafield Road by the end of next month.
• Consumer ownership is best train of thoughthe time is right for rail travellers to flex their muscles, says Mark Lazarowicz. THERE are now more people travelling by rail than at any time since 1946. Yet despite this apparent success, our rail services can sometimes fail to provide us with the service we have a right to expect.
• Euro 5 buses at depotLOTHIAN Buses has taken delivery of the first five of 50 new Volvo double deckers it has ordered.

Journal Live

• Rail chief to answer public’s questionsARAILWAY chief is to meet a campaign group aiming to reopen a North East line to passengers in Northumberland.

London Evening Standard

• How Oxford Circus shoppers will beat crosstown trafficow pedestrians in the West End will be able to benefit from a Japanese-style "scramble crossing" after plans were unveiled for big changes to Oxford Circus. Westminster council wants to rip out existing barriers and street clutter and remodel the crossings.
• We drive electric ... now give us places to charge upLondon needs a dramatic expansion in the number of charging points for electric vehicles if Gordon Brown's dream of scrapping petrol cars is to be fulfilled, green campaigners said today.
• Better bring a book: To save fuel, U.S. Airways will remove movie systems from flightsUS Airways says it will start removing in-flight entertainment systems on domestic flights in November to save about £5 million annually in fuel and other costs.

Manchester Evening News

• NW aerospace flying highTHE aerospace industry in the north west is flying high, despite the UK's downturn in trade - thanks to existing orders and ongoing conflicts around the world.
• £1.50-a-litre fuel on wayTHE price of petrol could soar to nearly £1.50 a litre by the end of the year, a motoring group has warned.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Motorists in protest over rocketing fuel pricesMORE than 100 drivers staged a roads protest over the price of petrol. A convoy left Gateshead for Durham to highlight the plight of cabbies, driving instructors and hauliers.

This Is Local London Network

• Heathrow T5 problems 'avoidable'The chaotic opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 could have been avoided if the unions were listened to, the workers' groups have told MPs.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Rail battle in conference townBUSINESS leaders have urged the nation's rail regulator to bring vastly improved train services to Harrogate to preserve the spa town's multi-million pound conference industry.
• Major Leeds rail revamp hits funding bufferAMBITIOUS plans for improvements to train stations in West Yorkshire have been thrown into doubt by a multi-million pound funding row.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• DHL updates shipping company softwareGlobal delivery and logistics company DHL has announced updates to its software solution for shipping companies.EasyShip Connect is designed to perform functions such as tracking shipments and printing waybills and DHL claimed it is the first such software to be compatible with Windows Vista.It is available through a "convenient, downloadable installation" and is aimed at firms that ship 50 packages or less per day.Executive vice president of DHL's commercial division Charles Brewer said: "This new PC-based software responds to our small business customers' need for ...

Rail Technology Magazine

• Bombardier and Knorr-Bremse Conclude Framework AgreementKnorr-Bremse has concluded a long-term framework agreement ("Long Term Supply Agreement") for braking systems with Bombardier Transportation, the world's largest manufacturer of rail transport technology. The agreement was signed on the 7th of July in the Berlin representative offices of Knorr-Bremse. It was signed on behalf of Bombardier by Pierre Attendu, vice-president of operations, and Charles O'Donnell, vice-president of procurement, passengers division, and on behalf of Knorr-Bremse by Dr Dieter Wilhelm, member of the board of Knorr- Bremse, and Dr Frank Gropengiesser, chairman ...

Aviation Industry

• Rlys to negotiate World Bank finances for E. freight corridor on July 14A six-member World Bank team will hold negotiations with Railway officials on July 14 on the sanctioning of funds for the Eastern dedicated rail freight corridor project, it was reported. The Railways had approached the World Bank for funding the Rs 12,000-crore Eastern dedicated rail freight corridor project.
• Climate to pay price for low-cost flyingReckless promotion of aviation as cheap or 'free' has resulted in it being tremendously misused [Irish Times]
• High price of oil good news for BoeingDespite the woes of the airline industry, Boeing says the market for new planes has never been so strong.

Other News Sources

• UK. British Waterways contractor holds back tide from waterways within Olympic ParkBritish Waterways’ contractor, Volker Stevin, has today (9 July 2008) achieved a major milestone in the construction of the new lock and water control structure in Prescott Channel, east London by holding back the tide from the waterways within the Olympic Park.
• Derby train-maker shortlisted for £1.4bn contractDERBY train-maker Bombardier has been shortlisted for a £1.4bn contract to build a new fleet of trains that will serve London.
• Rail Minister gets on track with 2012 Olympics transport planRAIL Minister Tom Harris came to East London to open new rail sidings which replace others shunted out of the way of the 2012 Olympics development.
• Alternative aviation fuel testedAlternative aviation fuel tested

Other Subscription Services

• Freight rates flop as curtain comes down on FEFCFAR Eastern Freight Conference principals have held their last meeting but their final attempt to raise freight rates failed.