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

Friday, 19 September 2008

BBC News

• New Street designs are unveiledDesigns showing how Birmingham's New Street Station will look after a £598m revamp have been unveiled.
• Congestion charge jobs boost planAlmost 10,000 jobs could be created in Greater Manchester if congestion charge plans are approved, a report claims.
• Island airport seeks new routesAn airport linking north and south Wales wants to see new routes for flights from Anglesey.
• San Jose wins electric car plantSilicon Valley's capital aims to be the epicentre of clean technology as it clinches a deal with electric car maker Tesla Motors.
• Bosses urge climate change actionA number of UK business leaders call for
• BA pension scheme deficit widensThere has been an increase in the deficit of the main pension scheme for staff at British Airways.
• Consortium withdraws Alitalia bidThe investors proposing to rescue Italian airline Alitalia withdraw their offer, raising fears the carrier may go into liquidation.

Department for Transport

• Government allocates £15 million for strategic rail researchThe Department for Transport (DfT) today announced the allocation of an additional £15 million for a new strategic research programme to be managed by Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), offering a substantial boost to the rail industry's research and development capacity. The new programme is additional to the current research programme, also managed by RSSB and DfT-funded.
• Transport StatisticsThe Department for Transport has today published the following Transport Statistics ...

Financial Times

• Alitalia on the brink as offer is scrappedA consortium of Italian investors on Thursday withdrew its takeover offer for Alitalia because of opposition from trade unions, leaving the loss-making flag carrier staring at bankruptcy

The Guardian

• Labour conference: the alternative offering just down the roadAn official website, Conventionoftheleft.org.uk , promises debates on integrated transport, electoral reform, racism, nuclear power and organising protests.
• Ryanair breaks even if oil stays at $100A falling oil price will bring some respite for the strongest players in the airline industry, Ryanair said today, as Europe's largest low-cost carrier predicted that it will break even if fuel costs stay low.

The Herald

• BA nosedives as top-flight customer base hits hard timesShares in British Airways slumped yesterday on the London Stock Exchange as bankruptcies and job losses in the financial industry threaten its lucrative transatlantic business travel market. Traders said the fall in BA stock was the worst in seven years.
• Rosyth to Europe ferry link gets new operatorHauliers, politicians and the wider business community yesterday welcomed the announcement of a new operator for Scotland's only ferry service to Europe.

The Independent

• Cyclotherapy: 'Whenever I'm in front of a police car at traffic lights, I throw my bike over my shoulder and make a run for it'It's time to dig up an old favourite this week: red-light jumping. I've been thinking about the ethics of red-light jumping a little more than usual recently. As it happens, I've been interested in getting involved in politics, and wondered what I would do if I ever happened to become an elected official.

The Scotsman

• Retailer war sees cost of fuel fallMotorists looked set to cash in on a major petrol price war as fuel retailers slashed prices at the pumps in response to the falling cost of oil.

The Telegraph

• Women won't cycle because of concerns about 'helmet hair'More than half of women refuse to cycle to work because they are worried about their appearance on arrival new research suggests.
• Flagship free bus travel scheme backfiresA flagship scheme giving the over60s free bus travel across the country has backfired.

Times Online

• Carnival’s steady cruise could be about to hit choppy waters A fter two years of being clobbered by crude, oil prices are finally coming to the aid of Carnival.
• Jaguar plans to cut production as the availability of car finance dries up Jaguar will become the latest carmaker to cut production as the UK automotive industry struggles to deal with plummeting demand in Western Europe and the US.
• Deal to save Italian national airline Alitalia collapses The bankrupt Italian airline, Alitalia, faces imminent collapse after a consortium of Italian industrialists yesterday withdrew its offer to buy the carrier.

Network Rail

• NEW START FOR NEW STREET UNVEILEDPassengers and the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands were shown visionary new designs for New Street station today.

Birmingham Post

• Whitby hails 'stunning' plans for New Street StationThe makeover planned for New Street Station will give Birmingham a building of global importance, city council leader Mike Whitby has insisted.
• Birmingham New Street station's new look is unveiledStriking images and video of what Birmingham’s New Street station will look like in the future have been released.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Porthmadog rail track ’putting lives at risk’FEARS that lives will be “at risk” when trains cross a main road at Porthmadog have been denied by a railway company.

Liverpool Post

• Crewe Station to stage dance showA DANCE world premiere will turn Crewe Railway Station into a medium to make art.

London Evening Standard

• Boris must scrap this unjust chargeWe'd be kidding ourselves to think the congestion charge or its western extension was ever about making journeys faster, or even saving the planet.
• RAC: Text-driving 'bigger risk than drink-driving' for young motoristsMotorists who text while driving are more at risk than those who drink or take drugs before getting behind the wheel, a survey carried out by the RAC has discovered.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• ˜The last chance™ for an Inverness integrated transport hubAn Inverness councillor has warned that by choosing a city-centre location for the proposed Highland gallery and museum, the last opportunity to build an integrated bus and rail passenger transport hub could be lost.
• Pink cycle lanes proposal is winnerA contemporary arts project in Aberdeenshire has been awarded more than £47,000 to find innovative ways to contribute to reducing climate change.
• Proposed road will affect ancient sitesA number of historically important sites will be œsevered if plans for the Aberdeen bypass are approved, according to an archaeologist giving evidence to the inquiry.

The York Press

• Bosses urged ˜Find way round car park woe™ BOSSES at York Hospital have been urged to find œcreative solutions to the transport woe facing patients and visitors for the next year.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Leeds traders want parking rethinkTRADERS say unless there is a rethink on parking in a busy shopping district, many businesses could be lost from the area.
• Swap car for bus offer to Leeds commutersSOARING fuel prices, higher road tax on gas-guzzling larger cars and increasing parking charges have all been hitting drivers in their wallets.
• Bicycle bid to get Leeds students movingLEEDS students will be the first in the country to benefit from a scheme to get them on their bikes.

Doncaster Free Press

• End of free school buses?THOUSANDS of schoolchildren and students could be stripped of their entitlement to free bus travel under new council proposals.

Reading Evening Post

• A Reading to Heathrow train link in 26 minutesInnovators debated much-needed upgrades to transport links in Reading and the Thames Valley at a conference at GreenPark yesterday.

Forbes

• Oil Slips And Slides With Rocky Market Crude prices skitter between $95.73 to $102.24, as investors desperately search for safe havens.

The Economist

• Airlines and the credit crunch: Shredding moneyLower oil prices have revived airlines’ shares, but they are still in troubleTHE airline industry dodged two bullets this week. The rescue of AIG, once the world’s biggest insurer, also saved its subsidiary, ILFC, a market leader in aircraft-leasing. As a result 900 planes did not fall into the hands of the receivers, which would have caused confusion and disruption to dozens of airlines around the world. The second escape has been the lower oil price, which sent shares in America’s beleaguered carriers soaring, despite the turmoil on Wall Street. But high oil prices had alre...
• Airlines: Under the hammerJetBlue finds a novel way to perk up its sales: selling tickets on eBayCOLLECTORS and bargain-hunters have long been devotees of eBay, but the online auction site may have won a new group of converts. On September 8th JetBlue, America’s eighth-largest airline, put 300 tickets up for sale on eBay, with prices starting at five cents. Bidders snapped them up. Might this be a new way for struggling airlines to fill their planes?The auction, which ended on September 14th, took place during a particularly slow period for the travel industry. September and October are never busy months, but Ame...

Washington Post

• Ryanair raises outlook as oil price falls DUBLIN, Ireland -- Shares in Ryanair Holdings PLC rose Thursday after Europe's leading budget airline raised its outlook for this fiscal year, forecasting it would break even, because of the falling price of oil.

Railnews

• News: Upgrade for Bradford Interchange WORK has begun on an £8.5 million two-month project to reconstruct Mill Lane Junction near Bradford Interchange to increase line speeds in the area. Track and signalling equipment is being replaced and the junction remodelled to ease curvature and reduce diverging movements to allow outward-bound services to gain more speed to tackle uphill gradients.
• News: More seats on Mersey trains MERSEYRAIL and Merseytravel are increasing morning and afternoon peak hours capacity between Liverpool Central and Southport by 30 per cent and to and from Hunts Cross by 25 per cent, providing an extra 1,200 seats a week.
• News: RSSB commissions DVT research THE RAIL Safety and Standards Board has instigated a £50,000 scientific research project to investigate the risks of deep vein thrombosis to rail passengers travelling in crowded conditions.
• News: New look for Birmingham New Street unveiled STRIKING concept designs clad in shimmering, reflective metal - the new look Birmingham New Street station - have been unveiled to reveal the city’s gateway of the future. The iconic design is the work of the renowned Foreign Office Architects which beat dozens of rivals to win an international competition to land the prestigious project.
• News: New Zealand ’sparks’ contract for Balfour Beatty BALFOUR Beatty Rail Projects, in association with Maunsell and Evans & Peck, has been awarded a £4 million electrification contract by New Zealand Rail Authority ONTRACK for traction design, technical support and procurement for electrification of its Auckland suburban rail network.
• News: Summer timetable retained on Looe branch FIRST Great Western has been persuaded to maintain its summer weekday service of 12 daily trains on the Looe Valley line in Cornwall throughout the year following lobbying by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, which works to promote the line. Three trains each way between Liskeard and Looe were planned to be withdrawn for the winter timetable, but will now continue to run.

Aviation Industry

• Bosal launches new range of bus and coach exhaust systemsBosal UK – part of Bosal International, a world-leading designer and manufacturer of exhaust systems and catalytic converters – has made a move into the UK market for bus and coach exhaust systems.
• Solar BicycleDubbed as Cycle Sol, solar bicycle technology chic and green means of transportation will be lure every one folks who toy with thought of cycling actually steer clear of implement it due to sheer want of stylish user-friendly option.
• IZIP to Introduce Advanced Technology Hybrid Electric Bicycles At Interbike in Las VegasCurrie Technologies, the North American leader in hybrid electric bicycle innovation and sales, will launch their new and improved line of IZIP hybrid electric bicycles at the 2008 Interbike convention in Las Vegas September 24-26 at the Sands Convention Center in booth number 3017.
• Edinburgh Airport publishes new development plansEdinburgh Airport publishes new development plans, in light of rising showground relocation costs...
• Spirit to add ads inside planesWhen a Spirit Airlines Inc. flight attendant tells you to put your tray table in the upright position for landing, you might soon be staring at the latest automobile or drink advertisement.

Green Miscellany

• World Car Free Day beckonsMotorists in over twenty British towns and cities will on Monday 22nd September leave their cars at home in favour of bicycles, trains and buses as part of Car Free Day, a now global event that was first organised in Britain by the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

Other News Sources

• Transport supremo backs radical road planA RADICAL experiment to revolutionise driving by scrapping street signs and traffic lights has been supported by transport supremo Val Letheren.
• Chance for bus users to have their sayBUS Users in Malvern will have the chance to meet the people responsible for their local bus services next week.
• West Lothian Station fight now on trackCAMPAIGNERS calling for a new railway station in a West Lothian community are stepping up their bid to secure a stop on the new Airdrie to Bathgate line.
• Isle of Man Ferries may have to take detourFERRIES between Heysham and the Isle of Man may have to change their normal route when construction gets under way on a new windfarm in the bay.
• Batteries speed railcarsHitachi has developed a battery system that it claims will allow designers to develop much faster self-propelled railway vehicles.
• Council's audacious plans for park access bridgeCardiff Council has announced ambitious plans to build a dedicated lorry bridge that will allow hauliers unrestricted access into a park in the heart of the city centre.
• Channel Tunnel concrete lining fire protection flawed, say expertsTunnel safety and concrete experts said this week that Eurotunnel had failed to heed warnings about the fire resistance of the Channel Tunnel's concrete lining before the 1996 fire.
• Channel Tunnel fire made worse by open wagonsSerious damage to the Channel Tunnel could have been avoided if Eurotunnel had acted on lessons from previous blazes, fire fighters and tunnel experts have claimed.
• BAA design director joins LondonBAA's design director David Bartlett is to join the London 2012 team as head of design for the Olympic Village. He is leaving BAA following the completion of his major project, Heathrow Terminal 5.
• Network Rail to unveil £600m plan for Birmingham NewNetwork Rail is to unveil detailed plans for the £600m redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station tomorrow.
• Green group tickets cars A London environmental group has been issuing fake parking tickets to "gas guzzling" cars such as Landrovers and SUVs.
• Petrol price war begins Motorists look set to cash in on a petrol price war as retailers slash the cost of fuel at the pumps.
• Transport workers to home in on social movementsRoad transport workers will be looking at ways of building alliances with social movements at a special conference in Norway next month.
• ITF warns Greek government over national airline closureThe ITF has today warned the Greek government that it will take legal and political action over its threat to close national airline Olympic Airways (OA), which could lead to 8,000 jobs losses.
• UK wants more offsets in EU climate regimeThe British government is calling for a 20% increase in the number of CO2 reductions EU countries can claim through investment in
• Is climate change policy incompatible with free trade?Trade is just one of the many areas of our lives in which we will have to do things differently to address the climate crisis. Like almost all of our transport, trade is powered by carbon-based energy. That will have to change. But transport is only one part of trade's environmental impact “ and it is not always the case that locally produced goods have a lower carbon footprint. It depends on the energy and efficiency with which they can be made in different places. A tomato grown and shipped to Europe from Senegal produces less carbon than a tomato grown in an artificially-heated greenho...
• Researcher estimates 10,000 new jobs from TIFNew research conducted by London-based master-planning consultancy Arup for the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive claims almost 10,000 new jobs could be created in the region if the Transport Innovation Fund package is accepted.
• EU ministers approve new road freight tax rulesEuropean Union ministers have voted to approve a new system of tax regulation for the road freight industry.
• Honda cars to have 'speedy air bag'Honda cars to have 'speedy air bag'
• Airlines cash in as Eurostar strugglesLondon, Paris and Brussels flight prices soar after Eurostar Channel Tunnel fire.