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

Tuesday, 22 July 2008

BBC News

• Friends in High Places - PanoramaPanorama investigates allegations that the government has been in cahoots with BAA over the expansion of Heathrow Airport. How can the government lecture the country on going green while backing a third runway at Heathrow Airport which will dramatically increase air travel and raze a village to the ground?
• Airport in High Court challengeCoventry Airport has taken its fight to build a new passenger terminal to the High Court.
• MPs criticise New Street revampMPs have criticised £598m plans to modernise Birmingham's New Street Station in a report.
• Government will decide on runwayA decision over whether to allow a second runway at Stansted Airport will be taken by the government after a public inquiry.
• Brown to call for more green carsGordon Brown will call for a revolution in the use of electric and low carbon cars when he pays a visit to the British International Motor Show
• Oyster card hack to be publishedA Dutch judge rules that details of how to copy Oyster cards can be published.
• China drives VW sales to recordGerman carmaker Volkswagen posts record first-half sales thanks to a boost in deliveries to China.
• London car showCar firms wow an audience spooked by economic gloom
• Argentina buys back state airlineThe Argentine government renationalises Aerolineas Argentinas, nearly 20 years after it was privatised.

Financial Times

• Hamburg consortium submits Hapag-Lloyd bidGroup of investors launches attempt to prevent shipping line falling into foreign hands
• Fuel costs to 'take further toll on airlines'Air New Zealand's chief executive predicts a wave of bankruptcies will hit the industry over the next year as carriers struggle with high fuel prices and a global slowdown

The Guardian

• Government rejects rail policy criticisms from MPsThe government and Network Rail today hit back at an MPs' report that urged ministers to redraft national rail policy and questioned whether the owner of Britain's rail tracks was capable of executing the strategy.

The Independent

• Drivers who fail to pay fines will have cars towedMotorists who fail to pay three parking tickets face having their cars clamped or even towed away under new laws due to take effect in two months.

Times Online

• Westfield has ongoing vision for Olympic site... Or, ultimately, a better-connected location. The site will be linked with two underground lines, the Docklands Light Railway, regional overland services, the international high-speed rail link to Paris from 2010,
• Supermarket fuel price war brings drivers relief Motorists received their first bit of good news in months last night as both Asda and Morrisons announced that they would cut the cost of unleaded and diesel fuel.

Reuters News

• Ford extends buyout offers to more hourly workersRICHMOND, Ind (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co will extend buyout offers to hourly workers at more than a dozen plants in Michigan and Ohio next week as it looks to trim its workforce to match a declining U.S. market share.

Daily Record

• Airport bosses refuse to rename Glasgow Prestwick as Robert Burns InternationalAIRPORT bosses yesterday refused to change their name to Robert Burns International.

Mail Online

• Now council introduces 'three parking tickets and you're clamped' ruleMotorists who fail to pay three parking tickets face having their cars clamped or towed away under strict new rules where parking attendants with hand-held computers will have access to a register of persistent parking offenders.

Transport Briefing

• Transport Committee calls for high speed rail strategyhe government needs to be much more ambitious in its long term plans for the UK's railways, according to a new report by the Transport Select Committee.
• Blears calls in Stansted Airport planning applicationsUttlesford District Council has reaffirmed its opposition to a second runway at Stansted Airport after the government decided to call-in airport operator BAA's planning applications.

Birmingham Post

• The fight for New Street StationBirmingham City Council and Network Rail respond to criticism by MPs of the redevelopment of New Street Station.
• New Street plan dismissed as inadequate by MPsThe planned £600 million refurbishment of New Street Station is “cosmetic” and the Government needs to consider alternatives now, a hard-hitting Commons inquiry has warned.

Bristol Live

• Government in dock over fast rail linkA Powerful Commons committee will today criticise the Government for
• Highways chiefs ditch plan for M5 slip roadsA Controversial scheme to cut traffic chaos around the M5 junction at Cribbs Causeway looks to have been abandoned by the Highways Agency.

Journal Live

• Full steam ahead – MPsMPs have warned of years of “misery and overcrowding” if the Government does not start work now on plans to introduce high-speed rail lines.

Manchester Evening News

• Council leader has planes bill of £3,400MANCHESTER'S council leader ran up a flight bill of more than £3,400 on five European trips last year.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Uncertainty over BA flights between Aberdeen and LondonA QUESTIONMARK still hangs over British Airways™ winter service between Aberdeen and Heathrow.
• MPs step up pressure for high-speed rail link from London to ScotlandPRESSURE on the UK Government to reconsider building a high-speed express railway from London to Edinburgh was stepped up last night.

The York Press

• Transport boss unveils bus fares freeze BUS Company First hopes to freeze standard fares in York until January, the city™s transport chief Steve Galloway revealed today.
• Village road scheme gets residents™ red light A multi-million pound road-building scheme and housing development has been given a resounding thumbs-down by local residents.

This Is Local London Network

• Heathrow campaigners say let £30billion train take the strainA £30billion north-south high-speed rail link has been unveiled by a group opposed to Heathrow expansion.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Motorists face eco-town roads ban to keep bus routes clearMotorists could be banned entirely from using a new fast-access road during rush hour under new detailed plans for an eco-town in Doncaster announced today.
• Campaigners call for new North-South rail linkCAMPAIGNERS opposed to airport expansion today published plans for a £30 billion North-South, high-speed rail line to run alongside the M1 which they claim would "demolish" the case for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Northants Evening Telegraph

• School buses ordered off the roadsFive school buses were taken off the road following police checks in Northamptonshire.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Ministers get final say on stansted runwayA decision on whether Stansted Airport in Essex will get a second runway will be made by the Government after a public inquiry, it has been announced.

Washington Post

• Metrobuses Get a Makeover Metro rolled out a bold new red-and-silver color scheme yesterday for a sleeker-looking Metrobus, the first step in an overhaul of the region's largest bus system that is intended to improve service and attract more riders.
• Ford marks 100th birthday of the Model T RICHMOND, Ind. -- Ford Motor Co. is marking the 100th anniversary of the Model T, the first low-priced car that introduced motoring to the masses, at a time when Americans are cringing at the cost of filling their gas tanks and the U.S. auto industry is struggling with plant closings and layoffs.

Transport News Network

• New technology to get drivers thinking about their speedhe first on-road trial of new smart signs designed to encourage safe driving on roads operated by the Highways Agency starts this week on the A12 London-bound carriageway, near Kelvedon, Essex.
• Freight Transport (HC 249)The Government must invest more in improving the freight transport infrastructure given its importance to the national economy, the Transport Committee concludes.

Aviation Industry

• Eurostar Paris trains from London getting busierInternational commuters in their thousands are switching from short haul flights between the two capitals to the fast St Pancras service by Eurostar.
• telent awarded multi-million pound rail communications contract for Thameslink Projecttelent will design, install and commission an upgraded operational communications system and cable network for the Project which is designed to cater for increased commuter demand and will also benefit visitors to the Olympics.

Other News Sources

• City MP leads attack on rail policiesRAIL passengers have been condemned to decades of overcrowded trains and sky-high fares by the Government’s “lack of vision”, a damning report led by a Liverpool MP warns today.
• Manchester congestion charge under consultationA huge consultation process is currently taking place over the proposed congestion charge for Manchester.
• Is load sharing really happening?The idea of the UK's ultra-competitive supermarkets agreeing to share space on delivery trucks would have seemed unlikely a few years ago. In an industry more used to cutting one another's throats than helping each other out, competition rather than co-operation was the driving principle.
• £50m green funding for van fleetsPublic sector fleet operators are set to benefit from up to £50m of government money over three years to encourage them to improve their van fleets' green credentials.
• Sponsored Trees To Mark Car Park ConstructionAT the suggestion of Preston-based Virgin train manager Colin Carlisle, the company is to sponsor a tree to mark each month’s construction of the town’s new multi-storey station car park
• Funky new electric car in LondonThe NICE Car Company will debut a new electric car at the British International Motor Show