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

Wednesday, 05 November 2008

BBC News

• Welsh Oyster card 'flexibility'A Welsh version of London's Oyster card would bring passengers in Wales greater flexibility, according to an economist.

Financial Times

• Watchdog queries Stansted expansionThe Competition Commission has questioned BAA's timing of a £2.3bn project to build a second runway and terminal at the airport amid 'deteriorating economic and financial conditions'

The Guardian

• Taxpayer will not plug hole in the tubeThe London mayor has written to the chancellor, Alistair Darling, to demand a bail-out of the tube network, which is facing a cash shortfall of at least £1.4bn. However, transport minister Lord Adonis rejected Johnson's demands, which could lead to cutbacks on station refurbishments and disabled access projects, according to the mayor's officials. When Adonis was asked if more money would be forthcoming, he said: "No."

Times Online

• National road toll devices to be tested by drivers next year Hundreds of drivers are being recruited to take part in government-funded road-pricing trials that could result in charges of up to £1.30 a mile on the most congested roads.
• More jobs are lost as British car sales head for sharpest decline in 17 years British car sales are likely to show their sharpest fall for 17 years when figures for October are published tomorrow. The Times has learnt that sales of new cars were worse than in September, when they fell by 21 per cent, and could have fallen by as much as 25 per cent. This would be the steepest decline since June 1991.

Mail Online

• Budget airline tells disabled man he must pay extra - for his false legs A disabled man has condemned a budget airline that told him he must pay to take his spare prosthetic legs on holiday.
• Gas guzzlers face paying double the price for road tolls compared to less polluting cars Gas guzzlers face paying road tolls up to double those for less polluting cars under plans revealed by transport ministers. Motorists already face the prospect of pay-as-you- drive charges of up to £1.50 a mile.

Transport Briefing

• Tram and rail projects added to Manchester TIF bidPlans for a new railway station at Golborne and further upgrades to the Metrolink tram system are included in the final package for Manchester's £3bn Transport Innovation Fund bid.
• TfL Rail to oversee upgrade of south London stationsAll south London stations covered by the existing Southern rail franchise are to be refurbished after Transport for London Rail lobbied the government to specify a comprehensive package of station enhancements for the new franchise, scheduled to start in 2009.
• BAA chips in £230m to anchor Crossrail finance packageHeathrow Airport owner and operator BAA has signed a deal with the government to contribute £230m towards delivering the £15.9bn Crossrail scheme in return for an agreement that more trains will serve the airport when the new route opens in 2017.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Passengers get the chance to quiz rail bossesTRAIN passengers in the Capital are being invited to give their views to bosses of First ScotRail.
• Stagecoach boss just the ticket for transport talksSTAGECOACH boss Brian Souter will share his views on public transport during an event in the Capital.
• Horns lock as trams stampede over hidden bull sculpturesAS if building Edinburgh's tram line was not hard enough, it seems transport bosses now have a bull fight on their hands.

Metro

• BAA rapped over Stansted delaysBAA has fallen foul of a competition watchdog again.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Airline Jet2 charges disabled man for false legsA DISABLED man is furious after being told he has to pay to take a spare pair of prosthetic legs on holiday.

The News (Portsmouth)

• Out of the frying pan into the fuel tankWaste not, want not “ that is the approach to cooking oil being taken by the University of Portsmouth, and the savings are hardly small fry.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Globetrotting cyclist opens heritage trailA SCOTTISH cyclist who broke the record for cycling around the world officially opened the £1.8million Loch Leven Heritage Trail yesterday.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• £28m airport plan ready for take-offPLANS for a £28m redevelopment of the main terminal building at Leeds Bradford International Airport “ which could create up to 2,000 new jobs “ were unveiled today.

Carlisle News & Star

• Time™s running out for Carlisle bypassWHITEHALL officials have warned that they may withdraw support for Carlisle™s western bypass unless funding is in place by the spring.

Northants Evening Telegraph

• Rail bosses given a month to find trains for CorbyRailway bosses have four weeks to find new trains if they want to start running a service to the capital by mid-February.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Watchdog backs airport in Ryanair pricing rowBudget airline Ryanair is set to lose in its battle to pay lower airport-user charges at Stansted Airport, Essex, its busiest UK base.
• 'Eco town' dropped for new locationColtishall in Norfolk has been dropped from a controversial shortlist of 12 possible locations for new "eco towns" after local authorities put forward a more suitable

Railnews

• Opinion: Foresight and action would forestall threat to rail THE coming months are going to be a testing time. The ’R’ word – recession – is now being spoken openly and we must wait to see the impact of reduced spending and rising unemployment on demand for rail services.
• Opinion: Daft regulation THE Office of Rail Regulation has ruled against Network Rail's spending plans for 2009-14 – including projects that would help expand capacity, such as dual tracking between Swindon and Gloucester.
• News: New police station will give quick response to HS1 A TEAM of 25 British Transport Police officers is now working at a new police station opened at Ebbsfleet International rail station in Kent.
• News: Liverpool’s Parkway exceeds ’green’ targets LIVERPOOL South Parkway, Merseytravel’s award-winning interchange, is reaping the benefits of its environmental credentials while attracting record numbers of customers to public transport.
• News: New ’green’ locos will slash fuel consumption DELIVERIES of a new fleet of American-built, environment-friendly locomotives for Freightliner are expected to start during the latter part of 2009.
• News: Tunnel restrictions show ’economics of a madhouse’, says RFG chairman A STRONG warning that rail freight companies will run out of the number of train paths needed to cope with forecasted traffic growth was delivered during a rail summit in London.
• News: Milestone as first 140mph 395s notch up the miles NEW 140mph Class 395 electric trains have now completed more than 31,000 miles of testing on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link – HS1 – and on domestic lines in Kent.
• News: High speed…without moving an inch FROM lineside semaphores to the latest 140mph in-cab signalling – that’s the scope of driver training covered by Southeastern’s £1 million state-of-the-art simulator at its Ashford, Kent, Learning and Development Centre.
• Opinion: Passengers’ needs must be rail’s priority THERE is a lot that our industry can be justly proud about. Since 1996, we have seen the fastest growing railway in Europe, with more journeys being made on the network than at any time since 1946, and on a railway almost half its size.
• Opinion: VHF – let’s hit the ground running In just six weeks’ time Virgin Trains launches its much-vaunted VHF services on the West Coast main line between London, Birmingham and Manchester. Chris Gibb, chief operating officer, Virgin Rail Group, talked to Paul Whiting about his hopes, and fears, as the deadline approaches.
• News: Opening of Ratcliffe parkway delayed until new year THE opening of a new ’green’ £25 million parkway station in Leicestershire has been delayed because of legal issues over the purchase of land needed.
• News: Punctuality improves on East Coast as earnings grow National Express Group, which runs franchises on the East Coast line and in Anglia, remains on track for strong year-on-year earnings growth in line with management expectations for the full year.
• News: Operator head-to-head with open-access duo IN a bold plan to cut journey times, increase seating capacity and generate extra revenue for investment, National Express East Coast wants to launch 25 new services to and from London from December next year.
• News: Hoon ’passionate’ about potential of electrification and high-speed lines NEW transport secretary Geoff Hoon has ordered a major study that could lead to the most important development of Britain’s rail network in decades.

Other News Sources

• BAA response to Competition Commission's Stansted Q5 recommendationsBAA spokesman:
• MP takes knife on plane A senior MP unwittingly smuggled a knife on board a passenger plane from the UK's second biggest airport.
• Shipping bank asks German bail-outGERMANY™s HSH Nordbank, the world™s largest shipping bank, has applied for a guarantee from the German government™s bail-out fund.
• Florida Trains Run on Pure BiodieselSouth Florida transport company Tri-Rail will start operating 8 of its 10 locomotives with a 99 percent blend of biodiesel, according to the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. For the U.S. company’s trains the switch to biodiesel has been a long process. The company hopes to eventually use biodiesel in all 10 of its locomotives, [...]
• EU mulls sustainable Baltic Sea strategyThe European Commission yesterday (3 November) launched a public consultation on a future EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). The strategy will address environmental pollution, increased maritime transport and protection of critical infrastructures.
• EU talks on car CO2 cuts enter final roundEU member states have given the French Presidency a mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament to fine-tune a draft regulation on reducing CO2 emissions from new vehicles. The law could see manufacturers' obligations delayed to 2015.
• Defra launches £6 million greener living fund A new £6 million fund to help charitable and voluntary organisations support and develop environmental projects throughout England is being announced by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today.