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

Monday, 02 March 2009

BBC News

• More calls for car scrap schemeAs new registration cars go on sale, the AA joins calls for a scheme encouraging motorists to trade in old cars.

Financial Times

• Green vehicle manufacturers hit by recessionWeaning UK motorists off high-carbon vehicles and onto low-carbon alternatives is an aspiration of the UK government and of vehicle manufacturers. But the recession threatens to disrupt that shift, with the problem nowhere better illustrated than in the West Midlands, heartland of the British automotive industry.
• Shipbuilding sector helps keep Glasgow afloatPrevious recessions meant only one thing for shipyard workers on the Clyde – unemployment. But almost all of what remains of Scotland’s once-mighty shipbuilding industry is focused on defence, and BAE’s two Glasgow yards are now looking for recruits to help deliver their share of a £3.9bn ($5.5bn) Royal Navy order for aircraft carriers.
• A penny at Ryanair could cost a poundThe low-cost airline is considering charging passengers to use onboard toilets as it seeks to reduce fares and offset the fall by driving up ancillary revenues

The Guardian

• Train websites too hard to useTrain tickets from the UK to the continent take twice as long to book as flights because the websites are complicated and unreliable.
• Network Rail tries to hush up damning reportA damning indictment of Network Rail, which stands accused of tolerating "systematic weaknesses" after the west coast mainline was severely disrupted last year, is laid bare in a secret report that the not-for-profit company is seeking to suppress.

The Independent

• Boris jumps on board France's 'hire an electric car' scheme First it was public bicycles he was bringing to the streets of London. Now Mayor Boris Johnson is looking at pinching another green travel idea from the French “ a public electric car hire scheme.

The Scotsman

• Firm tasked with stalled capital tram project set to demand even more cashTHE firm at the centre of Edinburgh's acrimonious tram dispute is to make further demands for extra cash, The Scotsman has learned.
• Colin Matthews interview: Turbulent times for UK airportsIT WAS not the best of times for the automated lift at Terminal Five to begin having a mind of its own. The next stop was departures, said the silky-voiced recording. Except we had only reached arrivals, one floor short of the intended destination, and half of us spilled out as the doors slid open.
• Car buyers 'at four-year low'The number of people planning to buy a car has dipped to a four-year low, it has been revealed.

The Telegraph

• Sir David Michels on National Express shortlistThe deputy chairman of Marks & Spencer is one of the candidates to become the next chairman of National Express, the bus and train operator.
• Easyjet chief slams barmy regulationAndy Harrison said he was aghast at the Civil Aviation Authority's decision to allow airports operator BAA to raise aeronautical charges by 50pc at Gatwick, over the five years from April 2008, to fund a £875m programme of works that is yet to begin.

Times Online

• Cycle GirlEco-warriors rejoice. Your pleas for people to abandon their cars are working, judging by the number of bicycles parked at my local station this morning.
• UK tops league for toxic traffic fumesBRITAIN suffers from the most widespread levels of dangerous traffic fumes in Europe, posing a serious risk to health, according to a government report.
• Across the USA by trainThe States were made for train travel
• Settle-Carlisle: the best ride in BritainWhat is it with British trains and urban blight? This is quite a pretty country, but you wouldn’t know it from many of our railways. Maybe it’s an accident of history, maybe it’s the work of evil planners, but our busiest lines seem to be carefully routed through the most godforsaken spots possible.
• Flying to the Continent is so much quicker, right? Well, not necessarily. For a start, trains start and end in citiesWe all know that trains are better for the planet than planes — if you fly from London to Paris you are responsible for generating 10 times more harmful emissions than if you had gone by rail, according to research commissioned by Eurostar.

Press Association

• New carriages for rail passengersA fleet of new carriages are on order for rail passengers travelling from Dublin's expanding commuter belt, it was announced.

Transport Briefing

• East Coast rail open access rights confirmed by ORRThe Office of Rail Regulation has turned down a call from National Express to hold a hearing into the controversial allocation of train paths on the East Coast Main Line.

Derby Telegraph

• Bombardier decision - £10m cost to commercial propertyABOUT £10m of investment into commercial property in the city could be lost if the Government does not give a £7.5bn rail contract to Bombardier.
• Mr Hoon, how will Bombardier's rival guarantee 12,500 jobs and will you change track and reconsider the £7.5bn award?What difference in terms of UK jobs was there between the Hitachi and Bombardier bids. Will the Agility consortium (of which Hitachi is part of) create and save more jobs than the Bombardier bid? GEOFF HOON : I think on balance there was not a huge difference between the two

Edinburgh Evening News

• Sir Tom adds voice to Leith Docks name rowSIR Tom Farmer has spoken out against plans to rename part of the historic port of Leith as Edinburgh Harbour.

London Evening Standard

• Cheaper, nicer, better – the train, plane and boat travel alternatives every Londoner should knowJAMMED into a backward-facing seat on one of Virgin's hideous Pendolinos, with its smelly toilets, low ceilings, constant amplified announcements, buffet car filled with the worst junk food imaginable, no table to work on, tiny windows (or even, at some seats, no window at all) and the risk of deep-vein thrombosis through lack of legroom, it was hard not to think dark thoughts about the general collapse of civilised service on the nation's private railways.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Edinburgh tram works to get no more money “ SNPTHE Scottish Government has warned that no more money is available for a £500million city trams project.
• Scotland must not be left behind by high-speed trains Scotland must be included from the outset in any plans for a high-speed rail network across the UK, a Holyrood committee has concluded.

The York Press

• Passengers’ anger at First bus cutsTHE backlash against plans to axe a number of evening bus services and reduce timetables in York has gathered pace with the launch of a fight to scrap the plans.

Bucks Free Press

• "Alarming" number of drivers run out of fuel on motorwaysAN "ALARMING" number of drivers are putting themselves in danger by running out of fuel on the motorway.

International Herald Tribune

• Ford bucks Detroit trend with 3 new car modelsDespite slumping sales in the auto industry, Ford is rolling out the Fusion Hybrid, the new Taurus sedan and the Transit Connect van.

Washington Post

• Members of 2 Ford unions vote on modified pact DETROIT -- Hourly workers at two Ford Motor Co. locations voted this weekend on an amended contract that would cut benefits such as cost-of-living pay raises and cash bonuses.

Aviation Industry

• First Merseyrail Trials for Intelligent Wheel Flange Lubrication System on Network Rail TrackThe first live trials of Intelligent Wheel Flange Lubrication (iWFL) on a Merseyrail 507 electric multiple unit will begin in March. The iWFL system has been developed by rail systems specialist Rowe Hankins of Bury.
• 100th Anniversary of First US Hybrid Car PatentHappy Birthday, Hybrids! You may not have known it, but March 2 is the 100th anniversary of the granting of the first US patent for what was called the “Mixed Drive for Autovehicles.”

Other News Sources

• Call centre feels heat over tokensWokingham Borough Council’s new Wokingham Direct service received more than 1,000 calls on Monday, with most about the decision to provide travel tokens to people aged over 70 instead of over 60.
• London 'slow to tackle heavy snow'Borough councils, Transport for London and emergency services failed to work together at the start, the London Assembly concluded.
• Blackburn and Darwen bus service shake-up branded an 'absolute shambles'A DRASTIC shake-up of Blackburn and Darwen’s bus network has been branded an “absolute shambles”.
• New cycle track plan could run into tidal problemsInvestigations are being carried out into creating an off-road trail between Colchester and West Mersea because the road between the towns is so busy.
• British unions, lawmakers slam Hitachi train deal [Japan Times]They are angry that 30 percent of the contract to build a new fleet of express trains will be spent at Hitachi Ltd.'s plant in Kasado, Yamaguchi Prefecture, when there is a manufacturer that could carry out all the work in Britain, thereby securing existing jobs both at that company and its suppliers.
• Metro plans to upgrade wireless service in rail system [Washington DC]More Metrorail riders could soon be able to make cell phone calls, Websurf and eventually watch streaming video while underground as part of a possible deal with four major wireless phone carriers.
• Politicans Call For Action On Soaring Train FaresEddisbury MP Stephen O’Brien has backed Tory proposals that include giving the new Cheshire East council the power to work in partnership with train firms.
• Funds for possible Heathrow legal challenge agreedRichmond Council’s cabinet agreed to make funds available for a possible legal challenge on the Government’s decision to expand Heathrow this week.
• Virgin Blue mulls order for up to 60 180-seat aircraftAustralia's Virgin Blue is looking to place an order for up to 60 aircraft by the end of this year as it evaluates a replacement for some of its original...