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

Monday, 12 January 2009

BBC News

• Campaign for extra trains [video]Rail operator Hull Trains has asked passengers to back a bid to increase the number of direct services to London.
• Move to stop ticket office cutsA rail union has begun a campaign to reverse plans to reduce ticket office opening times at a number of stations.
• By flying car from London to TimbuktuA voyage to fabled Timbuktu in a flying car may sound like a magical childhood fantasy.
• Mandelson warns US on car rescuesLord Mandelson warns it would be a
• Mandelson weighs help for car loansLord Mandelson says the government is considering help for car finance firms but rules out help for vehicle manufacturers.
• Car industry woeThe Detroit Motor Show opens with gloom in the air
• Bosses urge Heathrow's expansionUnions and business leaders push for a third Heathrow runway but protesters are to demonstrate ahead of a government decision.

Department for Transport

• Commuters urged to claim for week of train strain Passengers who have suffered during a week of misery on the West Coast Main Line should claim compensation under the Passenger's Charter, Transport Minister Andrew Adonis said today.

Financial Times

• Ministers set to back Heathrow expansionAmid serious reservations from the environment and a handful of ministers, BAA is expected to receive the government's go-ahead for a third runway at the west London airport
• Cabinet set to back Heathrow expansionGordon Brown, prime minister, is keen to push ahead with the scheme “ including a third runway “ as part of his drive to create jobs by approving new investment in infrastructure projects.

The Guardian

• Air sicknessThe government's approach to airport expansion
• Go-ahead for development will intensify debate on air quality and noise pollutionThe widely expected approval of a third runway at Heathrow this week will not end the heated debate over the environmental consequences of expanding Britain's biggest airport.
• US carmakers reject fears of their imminent demiseThe cash-strapped
• Labour rebels opposed to third runway give backing to new airport in Thames estuaryRebel Labour MPs are stepping up their campaign against a proposed third runway at Heathrow, which could be approved by the government this week, by backing plans for a new London airport.A cross-party parliamentary group will be launched this week to promote the construction of an airport on the Thames estuary. The proposal, which would divert flights away from London, was mooted by the London mayor, Boris Johnson, but is gathering support against the government's apparent determination to expand Britain's biggest airport.A coalition of Labour MPs, opposition politicians and environmental cam...

The Herald

• Figures show airline industry facing terminal declineThe last time passengers abandoned airlines in such large numbers was in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, when panic over security created an overnight fear of flying among the public.

The Scotsman

• Whitehall challenges 'cut-price' Forth bridgeTHE UK Government is to challenge SNP ministers over their decision to back a cut-price Forth road bridge, in a move set to intensify the bitter row over the £2.3bn crossing.
• Quango accused of driving out bus firms with claims of over-chargingTHE body in charge of regulating Scotland's bus services has been accused of forcing operators out of business.
• Call for third Heathrow runwayAirline chiefs joined business leaders and trade unionists in calling for a third runway to be built at Heathrow.
• Oppose rail office cuts, says unionThe country's biggest railway workers union has launched a campaign aimed at reversing plans to cut ticket office opening times at a number of railway stations.

The Telegraph

• Third Heathrow runway: Business figures make final push The closing case for a third runway at Heathrow airport will be made by business and union leaders today as the Prime Minister prepared to give his goahead to the plan.
• Government loans for car industry and small business Britain's troubled car industry may be offered taxpayerbacked loans to help manufacturers through the recession.
• Alex Salmond 'provoking row over Forth Road Bridge' SNP ministers have been accused of playing politics over the funding of a new Forth Road Bridge as the Government offered talks to resolve the latest row between Holyrood and Westminster.

Transport Briefing

• SPT seeks redundancies to plug funding shortfallStrathclyde Partnership for Transport is facing a £3m funding gap as a consequence of increased service costs and a substantial reduction in income as a result of recent interest rate cuts.
• Southeastern rail operator to cut 7.5% of workforceTrain operator Southeastern is to axe 90 jobs as part of plans to cut 300 positions during 2009.
• Woolwich Arsenal Docklands light rail extension opensWoolwich Arsenal station has opened at the end of the new £180m 2.5km cross-river extension of London's Docklands Light Railway.

Liverpool Echo

• Call for third Heathrow runwayAirline chiefs joined business leaders and trade unionists in calling for a third runway to be built at Heathrow.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Harbour revamp project approvedTHE long-awaited development of one of Yorkshire's most famous harbours has been given the go-ahead a decade after the transformation was first mooted.

Bucks Free Press

• Teenagers encouraged to take 'pre-driving' course A COUNCIL and local driving instructors are encouraging teenagers to take a driving course before they begin their lessons on the road.

International Herald Tribune

• New cars arrive, courting few buyersMany of the new models were in development a few years ago, when the industry was on much stronger footing.
• Automakers go for electric cars, but will drivers?There are no guarantees that consumers - for all their stated concerns about global warming, dependence on foreign oil and unpredictable gasoline prices - will buy enough of the electric vehicles that will be promoted at the Detroit auto show.
• The electric auto fleet moves a few steps closerA look at the machinery to be revealed at the Detroit auto show suggests that the era of the electric automobile has finally arrived.

Washington Post

• What Detroit's Doing Right America's Big Three automakers got pounded on Capitol Hill last month. Senators from both parties took turns ridiculing General Motors, Ford and Chrysler as out-of-touch fossils, churning out poor-quality products that virtually no one wants to buy.
• Road to Fuel Efficiency Is Lined With Orange Cones DETROIT, Jan. 11 Within the halls of the North American International Auto Show, the world's automakers were jockeying yesterday to promote their electric cars.

Aviation Industry

• LCA Throws A Tantrum Over Crossrail, and MONEYChristmas is over .The new year hangover has come and gone and you patiently wait to see how much this months credit card bill will be. The January Blues have well and truly arrived.
• U.S. to Head Up International Force to Combat PiracyThe United States will be heading up an international force that has been designed to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.
• Schwinn Shows Tailwind Electric BikeBicycles at a consumer electronics show? You bet. But Schwinn's Tailwind is no ordinary cycle: It's a hybrid bicycle, which can be ridden the old-fashioned way,
• Back Heathrow's third runway and safeguard over 200,000 jobs, urges UniteThe UK's leading union is urging the Government to give the green light to the construction of a third runway at Heathrow airport.

Other News Sources

• National Express East Anglia fare dodgers fined a total of £31,855DODGING fares of as little as £2.30 has landed dozens of rail passengers in court and facing big fines.
• Stagecoach buys CavendishSTAGECOACH, the national bus operator which took over Eastbourne Buses in a multi- million pound deal last month, announced it had bought part of Cavendish-Renown.
• Shipping lane may become heritage siteThe Dover Strait - one of the world's busiest shipping lanes - could join the ranks of the Great Barrier Reef and Canterbury Cathedral if a bid to list it as a World Heritage Site is successful.
• Oppose rail office cuts, says unionThe country's biggest railway workers union has launched a campaign aimed at reversing plans to cut ticket office opening times at a number of railway stations.
• Campaign gathers steam to tackle train fare hikesAs commuters in Kent face New Year rail fare rises of up to 13 per cent, a campaign is gathering force that could see the end of soaring ticket prices.
• Campaigning for a better rail service at LockerbieA PETITION has been launched by MP David Mundell in a bid to get better services at Lockerbie railway station.
• White elephant warning over runwayA third runway at Heathrow Airport will be a white elephant unless aviation is made "greener", a think-tank group has said.
• Call for third Heathrow runwayAirline chiefs joined business leaders and trade unionists in calling for a third runway to be built at Heathrow.
• Oppose rail office cuts, says unionJan 12 2009 The country's biggest railway workers union has launched a campaign aimed at reversing plans to cut ticket office opening times at a number of railway stations. The Rail Maritime and Tra...
• Ship crews double salaries amid pirates threatOil shippers are paying crews double to persuade them to sail through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, an official at Saudi Arabia's National Shipping Company (NSCSA) has said.
• Transportation is taking center stage for cityStreetcars will be part of the political debate this year, but the larger issues of traffic and transit strategy will take center stage in an election year. Those topics take on even greater signific...
• All aircraft 'should have emission targets'Emission targets for each aircraft have to be established before a new runway at Heathrow can be built, a leading think tank has said.
• Oppose ticket office cut callThe country's biggest railway workers union has launched a campaign aimed at reversing plans to cut ticket office opening times at 40 railway stations.
• PM 'set to approve Heathrow runway'
• Oppose rail office cuts, says union
• Call for third Heathrow runway