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

Monday, 28 July 2008

BBC News

• Portadown railway [video]Our Armagh reporter, Gordon Adair, investigates how security alerts on the Portadown railway line are causing havoc and aggravation for passengers.
• 'Little' strike impact on trainsA strike by 12,000 maintenance workers over pay has had little impact on train services, Network Rail has said.
• Electric dreamsOn the road in an electric G-Wiz car
• Government blamed over fuel costsMore than a third of people think the government is most to blame for high fuel costs, a BBC Panorama poll suggests.

Department for Transport

• New measures to tackle non-UK drivers and hauliers who break road traffic lawsNon-UK drivers and hauliers who flout the rules of the road face being fined and having their vehicles immobilised under new road safety proposals published today by Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick.
• Road Statistics 2007: Traffic, Speeds and CongestionThis bulletin includes the first release of National Statistics on 2007 Road Traffic, Free Flow Vehicle Speeds in Great Britain, and Traffic Speeds on the Strategic Road Network in England.

Financial Times

• Ryanair shares plunge 23 per centThe low-cost airline warned it could suffer it first full-year loss as surging fuel costs and falling airfares hurt first quarter results
• Costs push British Airways off courseThe time for celebrating last year's record profits has been cruelly brief at British Airways, writes Kevin Done . On Friday BA discloses just how steeply...
• Qantas names Jetstar's Joyce as new CEOWith Geoff Dixon retiring after eight years heading Australia's largest airline, Qantas Airways Chief Executive named Alan Joyce as its new chief executive on Monday

The Guardian

• Airlines: Ryanair ignites Italian fury over 'unpleasant' website advertRyanair was in a nose-to-nose confrontation with Silvio Berlusconi's government last night after refusing to withdraw an advert claiming Italian ministers had an "up yours" attitude to their voters.
• Public transport catches on in the USFor communities struggling with home foreclosures, the rocketing price of petrol is prompting drastic action: Americans are taking the train. Amid cries of dismay, the average US price for a gallon of petrol recently reached $4 (£2.02, or about 53p a litre) - still less than half the cost in Britain but a steep rise of $1 a gallon since the beginning of the year.
• It was the cathedral of modern times, but the car is now a menaceVirginia and Leonard Woolf bought their first car, a second-hand Singer, in 1927. Three years earlier, she had complained that an increase in traffic was ruining her walks in the countryside. But within a month of acquiring the Singer, she enthused: "Yes, the motor car is turning out the joy of our lives, an additional life, free & mobile & airy ... Soon we shall look back at our pre-motor days as we do now at our days in the caves."

The Herald

• Airport vision for future hampered by ’unprofessional’ railway servicePRESTWICK AIRPORT is to unveil plans to more than double passenger numbers within a decade, but says it depends on improvements to the "unprofessional" train service to Glasgow.

The Scotsman

• G-Wiz – there's nowhere to plug in Scotland's only electric carTHE car was tootling along nicely, on a flat but curvy stretch of A-road a few miles south of the Lanarkshire town of Biggar.
• Third runway 'an obvious solution'Building a third runway at Heathrow Airport is the "obvious" solution to airport congestion, a report concludes.

The Telegraph

• Heathrow expansion protestors may disrupt airportMilitant opponents of Heathrow's expansion are drawing up plans to disrupt the airport, throwing the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers into disarray.
• Passengers at British airports to be fingerprinted The introduction of fingerprinting faces fierce opposition from Britain's privacy watchdog.
• Heathrow: A third runway at is 'obvious' solutionBuilding a third runway at Heathrow airport is the

Times Online

• End of cheap flights boom as airlines raise fares in line with oil prices More than five million British passengers could be priced out of the budget holiday market as airlines raise their fares, bringing the era of cheap travel to an end.
• Qantas told to check oxygen bottles after Boeing 747 explosion Qantas has been ordered to check all oxygen bottles on its 30-strong fleet of Boeing 747s after an exploding canister was suspected of ripping a hole in an aircraft flying from London to Melbourne.
• No frills is fine but the one thing they can't cut is the cost of fuel The early days of flight were characterised by the sort of luxury that passengers had become used to on ocean liners and it is only relatively recently that airlines have competed solely on price.
• British Airways executives face charges over collusion to fix prices Four British Airways executives, past and present, could be charged with price-fixing and face up to five years in jail, according to a report last night.
• Tata Motors ready to pitch Daimler back in the race Tata Motors, the new owner of Jaguar and Land Rover, is looking to revive Daimler, the luxury car marque favoured by the Queen and her mother.
• End of cheap flights boom as airlines raise fares in line with oil prices More than five million British passengers could be priced out of the budget holiday market as airlines raise their fares, bringing the era of cheap travel to an end.

Mail Online

• All air passengers to give their fingerprints ... but is it for security or to raise profits for the duty-free shops?Millions of passengers flying from British airports will be fingerprinted from next year under the latest controversial Government anti-terror plans.

Edinburgh Evening News

• City breathes sigh of relief as Shandwick Place set to reopenSHANDWICK Place is to reopen to buses, taxis and cyclists on Monday after being closed to traffic for the last five months.

London Evening Standard

• Mayor tells rail firm: Keep ticket offices openBoris Johnson is calling on South West Trains to drop a plan to close ticket offices at weekends.
• Crossrail unveils its stationsThese are the new stations that will be built across central London for Crossrail.

Manchester Evening News

• Campaigners gear up for voteCAMPAIGNERS on both sides of the congestion charge debate have welcomed a decision to hold a referendum on the issue.

Metro

• Million cars are scrapped illegallyIllegal scrapyards that ignore rules about removing pollutants from vehicles are disposing of up to a million cars a year.

Newcastle Journal

• 'Fuel battery' could take cars beyond petrolAn electricity storage system that combines features of batteries and fuel cells packs in more energy than a tank of gasoline

The York Press

• Safety call after A59 crash chaos AN MP has renewed calls for safety measures on a œtreacherous stretch of a main road near York following the second serious accident in less than a week.
• Hospital signs car park deal WORK is finally about to start on a £5million multi-storey car park at York Hospital to solve chronic parking shortages.

This Is Local London Network

• Holiday crackdown on unruly train passengersTransport police targeted drugs and knives in a crackdown at south London stations this week.
• Mass march planned against Heathrow expansionVeterans of last year's Heathrow climate camp are holding a mass meeting to protest against airport expansion plans today before joining a three-day

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Rail trial stalled as snags hit plans for city routeThe prestigious tram-train trial on Yorkshire's railways may now not run on tracks within any city, officials admitted yesterday.

Sunderland Echo

• Cheaper travel on the cards for kidsTens of thousands of families will benefit from the biggest shake-up of child fares for a decade, the Passenger Transport Authority has announced.

Washington Post

• China's Cars, Accelerating A Global Demand for Fuel SONGJIANG, China N odding his head to the disco music blaring out of his car's nine speakers, Zhang Linsen swings the shiny, black Hummer H2 out of his company's gates and on to the spacious four-lane road.

Railnews

• News: Wanted: a ’genuine’ 30-year strategy for Britain’s railways IF anyone thought that criticism of Government policy by the MPs’ Select Committee on Transport would end with the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody—who had chaired the committee for many years—they have been proved wrong by its latest report, which shows the MPs are clearly very unimpressed by much of last year’s White Paper, ’Delivering a sustainable railway.’
• News: New Freight Chord Will Speed Containers WORK is progressing on Merseytravel’s £7.9 million Olive Mount Chord project, a new key freight link on Merseyside to improve rail access to the Port of Liverpool and help take lorries off the road.

Aviation Industry

• India set to sign liberal aviation pact with EUNEW DELHI: Indian airlines are set to get an improved access to European destinations. A liberal aviation pact between India and the European Union (EU) is on the cards, which will enable this as well as give EU carriers better access to India. In a way, the pact will work like an ’open skies’ agreement between India and the EU.
• Haulage companies warned on legal changesCompanies advised to avoid going broke by staying abreast of legal changes. Workplace experts predict that road haulage firms are in the firing line as the UK economy continues to take a turn for the worst.
• One Voice for the UK’s maritime servicesThe shipping, ports and maritime business services sectors in the UK have formalised an agreement to work together and speak with a single voice on key strategic and practical issues of joint concern. The grouping, to be known as “One Voice”, will meet at a high level on a quarterly basis to provide a forum for discussion and action on relevant issues. A speedy consultation process has also been established to allow quick responses to issues when required.
• Congestion 'costs UK firms over £17 billion'Congestion costs UK businesses £17.55 billion every year, a report by the Department for Transport (DfT) has said.

Other News Sources

• Airport campaigners meet to discuss tacticsMore than 100 people opposed to expansion at Heathrow Airport have gathered at a conference to discuss tactics should the government give it the go-ahead.
• Tram-trains trial on track for extensionA TRIAL scheme to run tram-trains from Huddersfield to Sheffield could be extended to other busy commuter routes in Yorkshire if it proves successful, business leaders have been told.
• Palletline to invest in new central hubPallet network Palletline intends to invest £20m in new central hub premises in Solihull, West Midlands.