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

Thursday, 17 July 2008

BBC News

• Rainfall blamed for rail repairsNetwork Rail blames an increase in rain for having to spend £8m reinforcing a railway embankment which is threatening the Rhymney Valley line in south Wales.
• Town transport hub plans backedPlans to create a transport hub in a Shropshire town have been backed by a district council.
• Clean is mean for new plane enginesFor 59 of the last 60 Farnborough International Airshows, nobody really had to worry about the price of aviation fuel.
• Car share scheme hits milestAn online car-sharing scheme in Fife has reached a significant milestone by signing up its 1,000th member.
• £6bn to target M-way congestionThe government unveils a £6bn programme of investment aimed at tackling motorway congestion across England.
• Airline denies 'ghost' plane planAirline BMI denies reports that it will fly almost-empty planes to maintain lucrative landing rights at Heathrow.
• Brown defends fuel duty decisionThe planned 2p fuel duty rise is postponed - but Gordon Brown denies the move is linked to next week's by-election.
• Clean is meanEngine makers meet calls for more fuel efficient planes
• Paint it blackLondon cabbies seek 'fare deal' for rising fuel bills

Financial Times

• Oil costs persuade drivers to take busAlistair Darling's postponement of the 2p fuel duty rise comes as evidence emerges that high oil prices are starting to reduce demand for car travel as fuel duty increases were originally intended to do.
• Scrap Fuel Duty Devise Says BusinessBusiness on Wednesday called for the fuel duty escalator to be scrapped after the...decision to freeze the main road fuel duty rate at 50.35p a litre until at least...rivals.The Conservatives predicted the fuel duty "U-turn" would prove a forerunner...
• Fuel costs threaten BA dividendAirline's chairman warns investors it is 'up to its neck in perhaps the biggest crisis the aviation industry has ever known'
• BA and American agree on joint ventureThe two carriers have finalised their transcontinental agreement and aim to add Spain's Iberia by the end of July, paving the way for the three to seek antitrust immunity
• Eurostar's relocation lifts ticket salesPassenger numbers at Eurostar, the cross-Channel high-speed train operator, were 18 per cent higher in the first half of this year than last year as improved journey times and more convenient connections at its new London terminus boosted demand
• American and Delta confident of beating crisisAmerican Airlines and Delta Air Lines each reported quarterly losses exceeding $1bn, as both carriers wrote down goodwill, aircraft and other assets devalued by a brutal industrywide downturn
• Spanair cuts jobs to retain 'viability'Spain's second largest airline is to cut about a quarter of its workforce and its fleet in an attempt to combat high fuel prices, fierce competition and a sharp downturn in its domestic market

The Guardian

• £6bn to ease jams as road pricing shelvedThe government has shelved national road pricing until the middle of the next decade after announcing a £6bn congestion-busting programme, including toll lanes and opening motorway hard shoulders to traffic.
• Aviation: American Airlines goes deep into the redThe world's biggest air carrier, American Airlines, has reported a $1.4bn (£700m) quarterly loss as the industry struggles to pay sky-high bills for jet fuel.
• Scrapping fuel tax rise is 'common sense'Motoring groups welcomed the scrapping of the 2p rise in fuel duty today, although most were quick to stress that there needed to be further steps taken to ease the burden.

The Herald

• Airport gears up for the long haulScottish long haul travel will be “revolutionised” as the number of intercontinental routes continues to rise, Britain’s leading airport operator said yesterday.

The Independent

• Fuel rise delay is election ploy, say ToriesMotorists will not have to pay 2p extra on a litre of fuel after Alistair Darling announced plans to suspend the tax rise due in October.

The Scotsman

• Bus company’s transport of delightLOTHIAN Buses has been named Britain’s best public transport operator at the National Transport Awards.

The Telegraph

• Meet the Zecar: British electric car runs for 2p a mileA British designed and built electric car which its makers claim costs under 2p a mile to run will be launched later this summer.
• Motorists face £5 charge to beat jams on motorway hard shoulderMotorists could pay up to £5 to avoid jams by using the motorway hard shoulder in traffic black spots, under new proposals.

Times Online

• Zeppelins fly over London It was the ropes that did it. The ropes went from somewhere under the cabin in a long arc up to the nose of the ship and swung there, slack in the wind, even at 1000ft.
• Switch from air puts Eurostar on right track Rising air fares and faster journey times helped Eurostar to record an 18.3 per cent increase in passengers in the first half of the year.

Reuters News

• AIRSHOW-United Tech CEO sees aero market resilientFARNBOROUGH, England, July 16 (Reuters) - United Technologies Corp's chief executive is counting on a resilient aerospace market and strong international sales to see the conglomerate through a tough U.S. economy under pressure from rocketing oil prices.
• Motorway hard shoulders to be opened upLONDON (Reuters) - The government is to open up more motorway hard shoulders to drivers during congested periods after a successful trial in the Midlands under a package of proposals announced on Wednesday.

Mail Online

• Pay-as-you-go lanes on the hard shoulder to beat motorway jamsMotorists face pay-as-you-drive road tolls under plans to create 'Lexus Lanes' across England.

Transport Briefing

• Eurostar reports 18% increase in passenger numbersCross Channel train operator Eurostar has reported ticket sales between January and June 2008 totalled £368.8m – an increase of 24.7% against the same period in 2007. Passenger numbers reached 4.63m – an 18.3% year-on-year increase.
• Cambridge, Leeds and Reading get pump-priming cashLeeds has become the twelfth area in England to be awarded pump-priming money to put together a bid to gain money from the government's Transport Innovation Fund.

Birmingham Post

• West Midlands to get £819,000 for transport improvementsThe West Midlands has been given £819,000 for transport improvements as a reward for controlling congestion.
• List of planned road improvementsThese are the road improvement schemes being consider by Government.

Bristol Live

• North Somerset school bus company could lose licenceBus operator Eurotaxis has been warned it could lose its licence after it admitted running unregistered school runs.

Derby Telegraph

• Grants for green projectsEnvironmentally minded community groups are being given a financial boost to help them carry out green projects in their local area.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Passengers warned saved bus service must be usedA CAMPAIGN to save a city bus service will have been a waste of time if people do not use it, a councillor has warned.

Journal Live

• North road charges likelyMOTORISTS could face charges on regional roads and motorways despite a lack of cash for vital regional upgrades, the Government yesterday signalled.

Liverpool Echo

• Stations win safety awardsSIX Merseyrail stations have been awarded a national standard for safety and security.

London Evening Standard

• Drivers face £5 toll on motorways into LondonToll lanes may be introduced on motorways around London under a £6 billion congestion-busting scheme announced

The York Press

• Too many trains on the line! PLANS for new trains from York to London could be in jeopardy after Network Rail said it believed they could hamper existing services.
• City roads go on trial with 20mph zone RESIDENTS of a group of streets in York are celebrating after councillors decided to press ahead with trials of a 20mph zone outside their homes.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Congestion cash could herald road charginTHE Government today said road charging could play a "substantial part" in tackling congestion as Leeds was given £2.3m to investigate its use in the city.

Chester Standard

• £80,000 Chester car park renovation branded a wasteMORE than £80,000 of taxpayers' money will go to waste by renovating a car park which is due to be demolished in 2010, an angry opposition councillor says.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Jambuster funding announcedPlans to allow drivers to use the hard shoulders of the M1 in the East of England have been unveiled as part of a £6bn Government package.

C.N.N.

• Pilots say they feel pressure to cut back on fuelU.S. Airways is pressuring pilots to use less fuel, undermining their authority and possibly compromising safety, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Airline Pilots Association.

Aviation Industry

• Foreign HGV numbers rise by a thirdConfirming what drivers on the road every day already know, research has shown one in seven trucks in the country is foreign.
• Container firms unveil resultsAccounts just filed at Companies House by three big container hauliers paint a mixed picture across the sector. Maersk-owned Roadways Container Logistics is the most indebted of the three.
• Volvo testing new fuelA prototype Volvo truck with a 13-litre engine that runs on the alternative fuel dimethyl ether (DME) will be tested on public roads in Sweden next year.
• Hauliers not convinced by daytime lightsBemused hauliers remain unconvinced that dedicated daytime lights have the potential to reduce road deaths. If the European Commission succeeds in its proposal, which it says will help reduce road fatalities in the EU by up to 2,000, then new lorries will be equipped with dedicated daytime running lights by 2012.
• Make freight a higher rail network priority, says Transport CommitteeThe European Commission should allocate at least 40% of EU transport infrastructure appropriations to the railways and prioritise freight, to reduce the need for road transport, says an own-initiative report, adopted unanimously by the Transport Committee on Tuesday. MEPs urge the Commission to concentrate EU co-financing on improving the efficiency, interoperability and upgrading of rail infrastructure, inter-modal hubs and other freight transport modes.

Other News Sources

• Government clips Stobart Air’s wingsBosses at Stobart Air say they are mystified as to why the government called in its planning application to Cumbria County Council to develop Carlisle Airport and launch freight and passenger services.he Secretary of State for Transport said a decision on the plans was "of greater than local importance" and ordered a public inquiry, which led to the company withdrawing its application and shelving proposals to transform the airfield.
• Port on track for more businessMORE business will get on the tracks at Port of Tyne following a scheme by Network Rail.
• Rail Europe Rolls Out Electronic Ticketing for EurostarRail Europe offers the ease and convenience of e-ticketing for all Eurostar fares, with the exception of Group fares, between London and Paris.
• Gallagher Report Strengthens Case for Biomethane as a Transport FuelBiomethane has the lowest carbon dioxide emissions of any transport fuel according to the Gallagher Report released last week, a colossal 174% lower than comparable vehicles running on diesel.
• UK govt to look at BMI plans to fly empty aircraft to keep Heathrow slotsLONDON (Thomson Financial) - The government will look at plans by airline BMI to fly empty aircraft across Britain in order to keep lucrative slots at Heathrow airport, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament today.
• Air Freight Looks Bad and Getting WorseWith the most recent figures now available, those of May, although there was a 6% growth in passenger traffic cargo figures showed a 1.3% decline, according the International Air Transport Association (IATA). According to the Association, during the month costs for jet fuel were $160 per barrel, some 87% higher than the same period last year.
• Bus interchange optionsSupport for a controversial bus interchange in Dereham Market Place or hopes of getting the historic market back into the town centre could be dashed.
• SYPTA Wins National Transport AwardSouth Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority (SYPTA) was celebrating last night (Tuesday 17 July) when it was crowned PTA of the Year at the prestigious National Transport Awards.
• FedEx trials diesel-electric hybrids in ItalyExpress parcel firm FedEx is trialling 10 Iveco diesel-electric hybrid Daily vans in its Italian operation.
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• Maersk beefs up presence on intra-Asia tradesDanish liner giant is hopping closer proximity will enable it to serve the market better