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

Tuesday, 03 March 2009

BBC News

• Simplified name for city airportCardiff International Airport has unveiled a new name and logo to "celebrate being Welsh."
• Plan for city tram return [video]Transport officials in Wolverhampton have set aside funding which could see the return of trams to the city centre.
• Protesters occupy airport taxiwayA group of demonstrators campaigning against Aberdeen airport's expansion plans break through its perimeter fence.
• Opel in talks over government aidGerman carmaker Opel is in talks with the country's economy minister about a cash injection from the government.

Financial Times

• Stansted planning inquiry is postponedMinisters have delayed the start of the planning inquiry into the expansion of London Stansted by BAA because of uncertainty over the future ownership of the airport
• Network Rail 'too focused' on OFR targetsPwC report on the corporate governance of UK's mainline rail network group says that many of its stakeholders think that the company is insufficiently focused on meeting customers' needs

The Guardian

• Climate change protest disrupts flights at Aberdeen airportClimate change protest disrupts flights at Aberdeen airport
• Green cars may restart car industryGlitz and bling tarnished by the downturn and a succession of grim sales statisticsJapan today reported a 32% collapse in car sales in February “ the worst decline since 1974 “ and sales slumped in Spain by 48% highlighting the dire state of ­global carmaking on the eve of the Geneva motor show.Carmakers are experiencing the worst slump in sales for 35 to 50 years, millions of jobs are under threat, several companies could go out of business and dozens of plants will close for ever. Tomorrow the 79th Geneva motor show, traditionally one of the world's biggest and most sumptuous, will showcas...

The Telegraph

• Airports accused of profiteering by charging £1 for plastic security bagsAirports have been accused of cashing in on heightened anti-terrorism measures by charging passengers for plastic security bags.

Press Association

• Stansted runway inquiry postponedThe inquiry was to have started on April 15 but notice of a postponement - until around mid-summer- was given by Communities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears.
• Climate protesters invade airportPlane Stupid said seven people had broken through the perimeter fence at Aberdeen Airport and placed themselves inside a wire "fortress" on the tarmac. Several other protesters had climbed on to the roof of the terminal building, it added.

Transport Briefing

• High speed rail must connect Scotland says HolyroodThe development of a high speed rail network across the UK must include Scotland from the outset, according to a report by the Scottish Parliament's Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee.
• Cycle hire scheme for Oxford secures county backingOxfordshire County Council has approved an 18-month pilot to test the potential for a permanent cycle hire scheme in Oxford.
• Hammersmith lobbies for Crossrail station at Old OakHammmersmith and Fulham Council leader Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh has met transport minister Lord Adonis to call for a high speed rail hub with Crossrail interchange to be built on the Old Oak Common site in north west London.
• Glasgow Airport launches surface transport strategyA five-year plan to improve public transport access and reduce private vehicle use at Glasgow Airport has been launched by airport operator BAA.
• UK's longest road tunnel breaks through at HindheadConstruction of the UK's longest road tunnel under land, near Hindhead in Surrey, is a step closer to completion after the tunnel excavations from the north and south met deep under the Surrey Hills.
• Assembly calls for rethink of Crossrail developer taxLondon Mayor Boris Johnson is facing pressure to amend the scope of the developer contributions that will be used to part-fund Crossrail after the London Assembly called for proposals to be changed so as not to deter local regeneration schemes.

Bristol Live

• Bristol is UK's 'worst city' for transportBristol's transport system has come under fire after being ranked bottom in a national survey.

Derby Telegraph

• Get Government to Change Track by signing up onlineEVENING Telegraph readers are being urged to sign a Downing Street petition calling on the Government to award a £7.5bn UK rail contract to Bombardier.

Edinburgh Evening News

• 9am Briefing: 22,000 'visit mock tram in first week'A MOCK-UP of an Edinburgh tram has been described as "one of Scotland's busiest visitor attractions" by the city council after 22,000 people climbed aboard in its first week.

Journal Live

• Airport rolls out a brand new runwayINCH by inch, the runway at the region’s biggest airport has been resurfaced. The £6m project to help secure the future of the airport was today set to finish after around two months of work, all carried out in the middle of the night.

London Evening Standard

• Network Rail boss 'needs Crossrail like a hole in the head', report claimsBritain's most senior rail chief has suggested he needs London's £16 billion Crossrail project

This Is Local London Network

• Tram overcrowding unnacceptable say commutersBORIS JOHNSON is planning an electric car hire scheme for London in which users pick up a battery-powered vehicle in one part of the city and drop it off in another.

Wales Online

• Cardiff Airport drops ’international’ tagWHEN is an international airport not an international airport?

Yorkshire Evening Post

• A DIY transport systemBuses. You know what they're like. None turn up for ages and then three drive right past. So you end up calling a taxi because you're already twenty minutes late for work.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Stansted runway inquiry postponedThe Government has postponed the start of the public inquiry into a second runway at Stansted Airport in Essex.

Reading Evening Post

• ’Runway battle is not over’Opponents of Heathrow’s third runway had a small but unexpected victory in the House of Commons last week.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Construction breakthrough on Britain's longest land road tunnelConstruction has moved a step forward on the longest land road tunnel in the UK, according to the Highways Agency.Located near Hindhead in Surrey, excavations for the tunnel from the north and south have now met under hillside and the news has been hailed as a "major milestone" for the £371 million project.Transport minister Paul Clark said that the scheme will deliver "real benefits to local people, whether they are drivers, horse riders, cyclists or pedestrians, whilst creating a better habitat for local wildlife and preserving the beauty of the landscape&...

Transport for London

• Revamped Tower Gateway station to open early Docklands Light Railway (DLR) today (Monday 2 March) reopened its refurbished Tower Gateway station, two months ahead of schedule.

Aviation Industry

• BAA statement regarding Stansted G2 Planning InquiryFollowing the Government's announcement that the G2 Planning Inquiry start date has been temporarily deferred, a BAA spokesperson said...

Other News Sources

• Public inquiry into second Stansted runway delayedA public inquiry into a second Stansted runway has been delayed by secretary of state for Communities & Local Government, Hazel Blears.
• Car buyers 'at four-year low'
• Haulier turns away from biodiesel due to costA haulier that switched its entire fleet to run on rapeseed oil has reverted to diesel for all but one of them because the cost became prohibitive.