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

Monday, 17 November 2008

BBC News

• Funding deal for 'iconic' museumPlans for an iconic transport museum in Glasgow have moved a step closer after the engineering firm BAE Systems signed a £500,000 five-year sponsorship deal.

Financial Times

• European carmakers hopeful of a €40bn rescueAs lawmakers in Washington ponder a possible bail-out for Detroit's automakers, the growing problems besetting Europe's car industry are moving up the political agenda
• Stelios denies rumours of cash shortageSir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of EasyJet and owner of EasyGroup, last night said claims that he was running out of cash were
• Back in the saddleBicycle manufacturers have rallied from a recent low point, while carmakers have endured a month from hell

The Guardian

• Tube Lines boss to succeed Oakervee as Crossrail chairTerry Morgan, chief executive of London Underground PPP contractor Tube Lines, is to replace Doug Oakervee as non-executive chairman of the £15.9bn Crossrail project.
• Invisible bear makes cyclists saferTransport for London gets more than 10 million viewers for quirky internet video with a serious messageA video clip featuring an 'invisible' moonwalking bear that has stealthily grown to be an internet hit has been revealed as a subtle road safety campaign planted by London transport officials.
• Manchester should vote yes to the congestion chargeIn December, the people of Greater Manchester will have their say in a referendum on a massive £3bn investment in public transport in the city together with a peak-time only congestion charge.

The Independent

• CAA moves to extend consumer protection to airline passengersThe Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will gather the great and good of the travel world for a meeting in London this week to thrash out an industry stance on the extension of consumer protection to the airline industry.
• The car club that's joined the fast lane as drivers go without their own set of wheelsIt's a cheap and green alternative to ownership. Brett Akker, co-founder of Streetcar, tells Sarah Butler why business is booming

The Telegraph

• Car groups face ultimate MOTThe car industry's era of glamour has been replaced with something a lot bleaker

Times Online

• Overgrown Heathrow needs to moveHEATHROW has outgrown itself and is an unpleasant experience for arriving, transit and departing passengers.
• Manchester being 'bullied' by Government into accepting road tolls The Government is threatening to withhold £1.5 billion of public funding for public transport in Manchester unless the city agrees to become a guinea pig for pay-as-you-drive road pricing.
• Car firms ask Darling for cheap loan deals BRITAIN’s beleaguered carmakers are to make their first appeal for direct financial assistance from the government this week, asking for cheap loans to fund their finance arms and help the restructuring of their manufacturing operations.

Transport Briefing

• Rail alignment converted for bikes in Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland's Comber Greenway cycleway has been completed, providing a seven mile direct route for commuters cycling between Comber, through Dundonald to East Belfast and Belfast city centre.
• Blackfriars station Thameslink upgrade gets underwayWork is scheduled to begin this week on the £300m redevelopment of Blackfriars station in London.

Airwise News

• Legal bid over transporter [video]A company which imports personal transporters is calling on the government to make them legal on Britain's roads.

Edinburgh Evening News

• ScotRail on right trackTRAIN operator First ScotRail has been named company of the year at a transport awards ceremony.
• Campaigners bid to throw London rail link off trackCAMPAIGNERS opposed to the expansion of Heathrow Airport will travel to the Capital to outline plans for a new high-speed rail link between Edinburgh and London.

Liverpool Echo

• 1,200 jobs for £4m project [Stobart Group]UP to 1,200 jobs will be created when an industrial site in Widnes goes through a £4.3m transformation.

International Herald Tribune

• If Detroit falters, foreign automakers could soften the blowThe failure of the Big Three automakers, or any one of them, would put a huge initial dent in American manufacturing, but in time foreign car companies would pick up the slack, mainly by stepping up production in their U.S. plants.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Keystone successfully challenges London parking fineKeystone Distribution UK has won a challenge to a parking fine issued by Westminster Council to one of its vehicles parked on a single yellow line.The lorry driver reportedly parked in the West End of London while unloading his vehicle and was issued with a penalty charge notice (PCN).However, the London Parking Adjudicator has ruled that the fine was unfair and overturned the PCN in what some experts are claiming is a decision that could set a precedent for transport and distribution firms to reclaim thousands of pounds worth of fines.Keystone, which is the UK distributor for the McDonald's r...

Railnews

• News: As rail traffic grows, road and air decline WHILE the number of rail passengers in Britain continues at record levels — the highest for 60 years — road and air travel is declining.

Transport for London

• Bus rapid transit route cleared as tenders invitedHampshire County Council has tasked its highways contractor with removing the overgrown vegetation along the disused railway line between Redlands Lane and Military Way in Gosport as part of preparations for the proposed new bus rapid transit scheme linking Fareham and Gosport.

Other News Sources

• Empty building will not stop Blackburn link road, vows councillorThis week the Lancashire Telegraph revealed the planning application for the dual carriageway had been withdrawn, with a battle looming with English Heritage over a listed building in King Street.
• Plans to improve Worksop rail servicesPLANS to improve rail services between Worksop and Sheffield and cut congestion have been outlined by transport bosses - but funding now has to be found.
• Stelios: 'I'm protecting my easyJet money'Stelios insists his demand for board changes at easyJet was intended simply to 'protect his investment'
• Freightliner’s investor acquisition signals next growth stageLeading rail haulier of maritime containers Freightliner is courted by corporate investor, but it is 'busines as normal'.
• PICTURE: Boeing completes destructive test on 787 wing box Boeing has completed destructive testing on the 787's all-composite wing box, a process which is part of the aircraft's certification programme...