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

Monday, 27 April 2009

BBC News

• 'Under-used' bus service is axedA bus service between Cumbria and Tyneside is to be stopped because it does not attract enough passengers, according to councillors.
• Monday deadline for Gatwick buyerMonday is the deadline for companies wanting to buy Britain's second-biggest airport, London Gatwick.
• Cycle hire scheme moves forwardPlans for a cycle hire scheme in London that could mean an extra 40,000 cycle trips a day have moved a step closer.
• GM receives further $2bn in loansCarmaker General Motors (GM) receives another $2bn in loans from the US Treasury, it has been announced.

Department for Transport

• Law change allows motorists to fly the flag Patriotic motorists are now able to display national flags on their number plates after Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon secured a change in the law. Under the new rules - which come into force today - motorists in England, Scotland and Wales can display the Union flag, Cross of St George, Saltire or Red Dragon of Wales.
• Geoff Hoon opens Corby's first rail link in a generation Transport links at one of the UK's fastest growing towns have been boosted thanks to a £9 million railway station which was officially opened today by Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.

Financial Times

• Man with a plan to keep London's big rail project on trackLondon's next big transport development is Crossrail, a £15.9bn rail link to connect Canary Wharf in the east to Heathrow airport in the west. Cliff Mumm, a senior vice-president at Bechtel who worked on the Jubilee Line extension, takes over project management for the crucial central section this week.
• GM set for more aggressive belt-tighteningGeneral Motors is poised to announce further cuts to its operations, which are widely expected to include more plant closures and the elimination of the carmaker's 83-year-old Pontiac brand
• Businesses call for end to bridge tollThe Welsh branch of the Federation of Small Businesses insists that the levies amount to a tax on tourism and industry, and want them abolished where there is no toll-free alternative

The Guardian

• Dark side of the roadReducing speed limits would save lives and £19bn a year. So why is the debate so cluttered?
• Pensioners face limit on free bus passesServices may be axed or fares imposed as the over-60s clog network across Britain

The Herald

• Condition of local roads in UK criticised by 90% of driversMotorists have given a damning indictment on the state of the UK's roads, with almost 90% claiming they are fed up with the condition of their local infrastructure. A poll by the RAC, conducted among 2700 of the organisation's membership, found only 5% believe motoring taxes are appropriately used, while just over one-fifth said road pricing was a good way of dealing with congestion.

The Independent

• Man found clinging to Eurostar trainA suspected illegal immigrant was arrested after being found on the outside of a Eurostar train “ which had been travelling through Kent at 186mph.

The Telegraph

• German car scheme extended to two-wheeled transportIn a pilot scheme that will be copied nationwide if it works, the city of Mannheim is offering cash handouts to cyclists who trade-in their bikes for new ones.
• Poor credit rating for Gatwick bids set to scupper BAA's hopes of £1.6bn saleS&P has told one of the three bidders that it will refuse to give an appropriate credit rating to any bid structure that contains debt equivalent to more than half the airport's £1.6bn regulated asset base – the regulator's proxy for the airport's value.
• Pensioners cannot have free ride on buses says Go Ahead chief Pensioners cannot be given a "blank cheque" to travel on buses for free, a transport industry leader has warnedKeith Ludeman, chief executive of the Go-Ahead Group that runs more than 3,400 buses across the country, says councils are struggling to fully reimburse bus companies for the free travel scheme that was introduced a year ago.

Times Online

• What is it like to drive an electric car? Would you buy an electric car? Do you know what it’s like to live with one? The government is pretty confident that a cash incentive will be enough to persuade people to abandon the conveniences of the internal combustion engine. From 2011 motorists will be able to apply for a grant of up to £5,000 towards the cost of buying an electric car. No sooner had the government announced its latest “green” brainwave, however, than the flaws began to emerge.
• Car scrap loophole will turn worthless wrecks into cash Loopholes in the Government’s car scrappage scheme will allow wealthy drivers to trade in non-running wrecks and obtain £1,000 from the taxpayer towards a new sports car, 4x4 or luxury saloon.

Press Association

• Speeding fine may get £15 surchargeSpeeding motorists could be required to pay a £15 surcharge on top of fines as a contribution towards a fund for crime victims.
• Drivers 'fed up with road state'Almost 90% of motorists are fed up with the condition of their local roads, an RAC poll out has shown.

Daily Express

• Fiat gear up for 20% stake in ChryslerFIAT is aiming to drive through a rescue deal for Chrysler this week that will see it take a 20 per cent stake in the US's third biggest car maker.

Mail Online

• Call for curbs to over-60s 'blank cheque' bus travel as £30m shortfall is revealed Call for curbs to over-60s 'blank cheque' bus travel as £30m shortfall is revealed

Transport Briefing

• National Express signs up to Centro bus task forceBus services in the West Midlands are to be improved through the creation of public-private task force set up by transport authority Centro with the backing of bus operator National Express West Midlands.
• Rail links essential for eco-town list says CFBTMinisters must ensure that areas shortlisted to be eco-towns can be linked to the National Rail network, the Campaign for Better Transport has insisted.
• Bus alert system rolled out to entire London fleetTransport for London has completed the process of fitting the iBus announcement system to all 8,000 TfL buses in the capital.
• Birmingham New Street job given to Birse rail MDNetwork Rail's new project director for the £600m Birmingham New Street Gateway scheme takes up his position today (27 April).
• Manchester Hub study calls for High Speed 2 optionsGreater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority has welcomed a report by The Northern Way calling for major rail investment to deliver the Manchester Hub project - the name given reliving the constraints on the heavy rail network in and around Oxford Road, Piccadilly and Victoria stations.
• Edinburgh tram phase 1b shelved as cash runs outPlans for the next stage of the proposed Edinburgh tram network have been abandoned indefinitely after the City of Edinburgh Council was forced to admit that it does not have enough money to take the phase 1b scheme forward.
• Bus grant system ushers in low carbon incentivesBus operating companies that introduce low carbon vehicles or improve fuel efficiency are to receive extra money through the Bus Service Operators Grant.

Birmingham Post

• Transport bosses consider pioneering 'shared space' for BirminghamImagine approaching a busy high street junction but instead of the usual traffic lights, railings, bollards, kerbs and warning signs there is just open space – with people, cars and cyclists milling about.

London Evening Standard

• Euston's £1bn makeover hits the buffers in credit crunchA £1billion redevelopment of Euston railway station has been put on ice because of the economic crisis, it emerged today. Two years after Network Rail first signed a deal with developer British Land, due to start work in 2011, it has been agreed the project must wait until "well after" the 2012 Olympics.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Councillor calls two crossings at Moray bypass a ˜waste of money™A COUNCILLOR yesterday accused Transport Scotland of wasting money over plans to instal traffic lights on a Moray bypass, above a £750,000 underpass.

The York Press

• £2m for A1237 roundabout at York TRANSPORT officials are to spend an extra £2 million improving a roundabout on York™s northern ring road.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Overcrowded trains to London 'will get worse'Yorkshire's already overcrowded rail links to London are set to become more than twice as busy in the next 30 years unless a high-speed line is built, new statistics show
• Yorkshire Post campaign: Why we need a new high-speed rail link to LondonToday, the Yorkshire Post launches a new campaign to persuade the Government to build a high-speed railway, with trains running at 200mph, into this region.
• Fury as Leeds road won't get 30mph limit because of cost RESIDENTS who fear for their children's safety have been told the speed limit on their roads will not be cut because
• Tories 'would guarantee fast track rail scheme'Speaking to the Yorkshire Post as part of the launch of Fast-Track Yorkshire, Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said that it would go-ahead, no matter how badly the economy is doing.
• Greg Mulholland: We can't afford to miss our connection to a new world of British high-speed trainsHere is an idea. A major capital investment programme that will deliver billions of pounds of benefits, boost the engineering and construction industries, increase commerce and tourism – and help to champion a low-carbon future. It is time to get serious about high-speed rail.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Spot checks at dangerous crossingSpot checks have been held at a Suffolk railway crossing which regularly tempts the worst from local drivers.

Sunderland Echo

• Drive to make our buses 'tickety-boo'A drive to improve the bus service for Wearsiders, who made 35million bus journeys in the last year, has begun.

Washington Post

• Chrysler, unions make progress as deadline nears DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. automaker Chrysler LLC showed signs of progress with its unionized workers in its battle to stay alive on Sunday with just days left to complete deals to slash labor and debt costs or face bankruptcy.
• GM to announce brand changes, restructuring moves DETROIT -- The storied Pontiac brand is dead and more car factories and jobs are about to disappear _ the latest casualties of a massive restructuring plan that GM is counting on to help it stave off bankruptcy protection.

Aviation Industry

• UK team to design Saudi railway stationsA UK-based joint venture of Foster & Partners and Buro Happold has been appointed to design four stations on the Haramain high-speed railway (HHR) between Mecca and Medina.
• Reaction fierce to Alaska Airlinesa $15-per-bag planPuget Sound Business Journal Public reaction has been fiercely opposed to Alaska Airlines' announcement Thursday that it will begin charging $15 for checking a passenger's first bag starting July 7. Many postings to aviation-related websites, such as flyertalk.com, worry that Alaska's on-time performance, already the worst in the country in ...
• United Launches Customer Carbon Offset ProgramThis program complements United's existing efforts to reduce its impact on the environment through meaningful and sustainable actions in the air and on the ground.
• British Air Sees No Recovery Before 2011 British Airways is unlikely to experience a rebound in passenger traffic until 2011 as recession drags on, chief executive Willie Walsh told a German magazine.

Other News Sources

• Hundreds tell bus chiefs how to improve servicesHUNDREDS of residents have given their views on a bus services at a fact-finding event organised by transport and council chiefs. The day was hosted by operator Stagecoach North East and Hartlepool Borough Council to gain residents views on the current system.
• Calls made for better late night bus servicesDEMAND is there but the buses are not, those running the Stag have said as they call for a better service for Sevenoaks.
• Bretonside station delay 'a disgrace'ONGOING delays over the much-needed redevelopment of Bretonside bus station have been labelled a 'disgrace' by a leading city councillor. The city council has admitted that its ambitious plans for the site are unlikely to reach fruition before 2014.
• Villagers fear new freedom pass will cause chaos on buses during school termTHERE are fears buses in New Ash Green could be overloaded when young people get free passes this summer.
• $32bn for road-rail upgradesTHE states and territories have signed up to the largest federal roads and rail investment in the nation's history, which will result in $31.7 billion going to 146 projects, including upgrades of the ...
• MEPs agree to bend airport slot rules to help crisis-hit airlinesAirlines will be allowed to keep their highly-valued landing slots at European airports during next year's summer season even if they don't fully use them this year, EU lawmakers agreed. The measure is aimed at softening the impact of the recession on the airline industry, which has seen demand plummet since the start of the economic crisis.
• New German national railway boss to take over Fri.BERLIN (AFP) — Ruediger Grube will take over as head of German national rail operator Deutsche Bahn on Friday under a five-year contract, the company's supervisory board agreed Saturday.
• BA looks East to avoid turbulenceBritish Airway (BA), one of the few major airlines still making profits, has long focused mainly on the US and the European Union but is starting to pay more attention to China, one of the few air passenger markets seeing turnover continue to grow during the global economic slowdown.
• Northern Way calls for Manchester hubRegeneration body The Northern Way has published its plan for the creation of a major rail transport hub for the north of England based around central Manchester.