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

Monday, 13 October 2008

BBC News

• Rail travel costs 'too expensive' [video]The Chair of the Commons Transport Select Committee has said the cost of rail travel may price passengers off the Railway.
• Station bans train death artworkAn artwork depicting a person falling to their death in front of a train will not be displayed at London's St Pancras Station.

Financial Times

• We can all help airlines to be greenerThe Conservative party announcement, from its party conference in Birmingham, that it wished to scrap plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport shows the level of...
• Shipping sector hit by credit crisis The credit crisis sweeping around the globe is drastically curtailing shipping activity as shippers cancel contracts with shipowners because of difficulty obtaining trade finance
• Shipping sector hit by credit crisis The credit crisis sweeping around the globe is drastically curtailing shipping activity as shippers cancel contracts with shipowners because of difficulty obtaining trade finance
• Confidence on rocks in shipping sector One topic dominated the thinking of worried-looking shipping executives in Athens last week for the Financial Times' World Shipping Congress. On the fringes, all were examining the implications of a sudden breakdown of key networks of trust and mutual confidence
• Hapag-Lloyd sold for €4.4bnTui has sold its Hapag-Lloyd shipping subsidiary in a €4.45bn ($6bn) deal that will keep the company in German hands and see the tourism group retain an interest via a minority stake in the buyer

The Guardian

• First Great Western asks for new franchise termsFirst Great Western, one of Britain's most overcrowded rail franchises, has warned ministers that it does not have enough services to cope with demand.
• Tory plan to cut Network Rail's engineering work monopolyNetwork Rail would lose its monopoly on engineering work under Conservative plans to shake up the performance of Britain's railways.
• Eurostar station cancels rail death artworkSamaritans and drivers' union welcome decision to abandon relief of man falling in front of train

The Independent

• The IoS Green List: Britain's top 100 environmentalistsBritain's most successful transport campaigner has come top of the first comprehensive list of the country's most effective greens, compiled by The Independent on Sunday.

The Scotsman

• Ads cash set to roll in on back of tramsTRANSPORT chiefs are hoping to make millions of pounds by selling advertising rights for the city's trams.
• Highlands airports see traffic riseTHE number of passengers using airports in the Highlands and Islands is rising despite difficulties in the aviation industry and wider economy.

The Telegraph

• Motorway 'Lexus lanes' could be trialled within two yearsMotorway toll lanes which drivers pay to use to avoid traffic could be trialled within two years after the Government sent a team to the USA to study how the scheme works.
• British Airways branded worst national carrier in Europe for cancellationsBritish Airways is the worst national carrier in Europe for cancelling flights according to a new investigation.
• Second BA airliner diverted after electrical faultA second British Airways flight has had to make an emergency landing within a week after an electrical fault with an onboard television.

Mail Online

• British Airways accused of exploiting loophole to avoid payouts for cancelled flightsBritish Airways has been criticised for regularly blaming cancelled flights on 'extraordinary circumstances' to avoid paying compensation.

Transport Briefing

• Penalty fares for London public transport to rise £30Transport for London is to increase the penalty fare for non payment on its services to £50 from 11 January 2009.
• Wood Lane Underground station opens for WestfieldWood Lane, the first new station on an existing and unextended London Underground line for more than 70 years, was due to open on Sunday (12 October).
• Transport for London £40m deposit in Icelandic bankTransport for London has confirmed that is has £40m invested with failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander.
• Docklands light rail cash gap halts Dagenham extensionPlans to extend the Docklands Light Railway east into the Thames Gateway are being delayed due to continuing uncertainty over funding.
• Crossrail secures pledge for Isle of Dogs station cashCrossrail, the £16bn project to build an east-west railway across London, is set to receive £100m from property developers after Tower Hamlets council granted planning consent for the Wood Wharf development in London's Docklands district.

Birmingham Post

• Birmingham Airport runway consultation is reopenedOpponents fighting plans for a 130ft extension to the main runway at Birmingham Airport have a second chance to voice their disapproval.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Capital airport sees a slump in passengersTHE number of passengers using Edinburgh Airport fell again last month, but it remains the busiest airport in the country, according to operator BAA Scotland.
• Virgin Atlantic was in danger of disappearingVIRGIN Atlantic might have "disappeared" if Halifax Bank of Scotland had gone under, Sir Richard Branson has revealed.

Peterborough Telegraph

• £125,000 work to start at junctionWork will begin on Monday on a £125,000 improvement programme at a junction on one of Norfolk's busiest roads.

Washington Post

• Ithaca, NY, wants to be America's 1st podcar city ITHACA, N.Y. -- The thought of a driverless, computer-guided car transporting people where they want to go on demand is a futuristic notion to some.

Other News Sources

• BA criticised over cancellationsBritish Airways (BA) is currently the worst national carrier in Europe for cancellations, it has been claimed. The airline has scrapped one in 50 of its flights to and from its hub airport (Heathrow) this year, worse than its biggest rivals KLM, Air France and Lufthansa, according to tomorrow night's Dispatches programme on Channel 4.
• Hapag-Lloyd sold to Hamburg-led groupCONTAINER line Hapag-Lloyd will stay in German hands after being sold to a Hamburg-led consortium for €4.45Bn ($6Bn).