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

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

BBC News

• Record number of trains 'on time'Nine out of 10 trains ran on time over the last year - the highest proportion since records began in 1992, Network Rail has said.
• Profits jump at Virgin AtlanticVirgin Atlantic has reported a sharp rise in profits in the year to the end of February, bucking the trend seen by other airlines.
• BA jobs go after plane write-offBritish Airways has confirmed 25 jobs are to be cut following a reduction in its CityFlyer service, based at London City Airport and Edinburgh.
• Reborn canalForth and Clyde Canal restored to former glory
• New motorbike test is under fireA new motorcycle test which involves riders performing a swerve is criticised by bikers' organisations.

Financial Times

• Slide in trade leaves a glut of capacityAs the Eugen Maersk, one of the world's largest container ships, sits at Tangier Container Terminal, on Morocco's Mediterranean coast, it is easy to imagine that the world's transport and logistics industry is in good health. The new port, built in the shadow of the Rif Mountains, is busy and the containers are stacked reasonably high on the vast vessel's deck.
• US road haulage: Rail rivalry pulls big rigs off the highwayIt is one of the defining images of the rural US. Across mile upon mile of highway in the plains of the midwest, the rolling hills of the south-east or the forests of New England, huge trucks thunder, carrying goods from producers to customers or from distribution centres to retailers. The names of the biggest trucking lines - JB Hunt, YRC, Schneider National and Ryder - become as familiar as the names of the fast-food chains in the roadside stop-offs.
• Containers: Monster ships may turn into big liabilitiesIn the years to come, many container shipping chief executives will rue the events of 2007. Throughout the year, when container volumes between Asia and Europe surged by nearly 20 per cent a year and ships were constantly full, shipping lines ordered vast numbers of vessels from shipyards to cope with what was expected to be years of continued rapid growth.
• Zipcar wins exclusive contract for council The US car club operator has edged out rivals to win a contract to operate an exclusive contract for Westminster Council
• Car clubs looking for space to expand 'Location, location, location', the estates agents' mantra, has now become the name of the game for Britain's car club operators eager to compete in a land grab of the country's most coveted parking bays

The Guardian

• Plan to turn Bath's historic meadows into car park provokes furyEnvironmental campaigners and residents are vowing to fight controversial plans to turn historic meadows close to the river Avon in Bath into a huge car park.
• Airlines ask BAA to cut back on Gatwick improvementsWith passenger numbers dwindling and a new owner due soon, the airport's carriers are concerned that they will be stuck with a £900m bill

The Herald

• ’Cynical’ LibDems are split over Heathrow plansTHE LIBERAL Democrats have been accused of being "cynical and hypocritical" about environmental policy after it emerged that they are split over plans to expand Heathrow airport.

The Scotsman

• Edinburgh-London flights cut as BA plane written offBRITISH Airways is to reduce its service from London City Airport to Edinburgh after one of its aircraft was written off, it emerged last night.

The Telegraph

• US airlines take legal action over UK's Air Passenger DutyA coalition of United States airlines is set to challenge Air Passenger Duty in the courts, it has emerged.
• Heathrow Airport expansion essential for UK's prosperity, says lobby groupThey argue that Heathrow has slipped into fifth place in Europe in terms of destinations served – behind Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich airports – and claim that the runway is necessary to secure the hub status of Britain's premier airport.
• Business leaders question third runway plan for Heathrow AirportIan Cheshire would like to get one thing straight. "I am not anti-aviation," he says. "I run an international business that relies on aviation. I travel a lot – though I have been wondering lately if my BA Gold Card might mysteriously disappear."
• Motorists paying £1 a litre for fuel despite cut in oil costs Petrol prices have risen back above the £1 a litre mark at the pumps despite the drop in the cost of crude oil.

Times Online

• Action on wind farm radar threat to aircraftThe body that monitors UK airspace is seeking a solution to the potentially disastrous problem of commercial and military aircraft disappearing in radar blackout zones caused by wind farms.

Press Association

• Record number of trains on timeAnnual train punctuality has reached the 90% mark for the first time since records began in 1992, Network Rail (NR) has announced.

Network Rail

• TRAIN PUNCTUALITY REACHES ALL TIME RECORD HIGHOver 1.2bn passengers last year (April 2008 to March 2009) enjoyed the best train punctuality ever recorded¹ on Britain's railways as 90.6% of train services arrived on time². The highest since records began almost 20 years ago (1992).

Transport Briefing

• Network Rail sets up West Coast unit to tackle delaysNetwork Rail says train punctuality on Britain's railway network is now higher than at any time since comprehensive record keeping began in 1992.

Manchester Evening News

• Airport May Day call goes out to companies in NWAN urgent call to action in the battle against climate change will be heard loud and clear across Britain tomorrow - and the north west will be at its heart.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Cruden Bay homes plan could put rail line on track Plans to build 200 homes to the south of Cruden Bay will leave the former rail line which ran between Peterhead and Ellon open for reinstatement, it has emerged.

Other News Sources

• Lonely railway stations are the traveller's nightmarePASSENGERS are more worried about unmanned stations than becoming a victim of crime on the trains. Neil Skinner, chairman of the Manningtree Rail Users’ Association, said crime on trains is not an issue of concern on local lines. But security at unmanned stations at night is a worry, particularly on the Harwich line, he said.
• Heathrow third runway a mistake, says Lord SternThe decision to allow a third runway at Heathrow was a mistake, according to one of the government's most senior advisers on the economics of climate change.
• Bahrain plans rapid transport revolutionPlans include a 180km public transport network comprising light rail transit, a monorail, a tramway and rapid-transit buses, the Gulf state's Works Ministry has announced.Hi-tech traffic management eq...

EIN News Subscription

• SFO may add sleeping pods for weary travelers ... Attention, international jet-setters: Soon you won't have to try to ... seat by the gate. San Francisco International Airport may become the first in the country ... be approximately 886 square feet behind the security gates in boarding area A. The rooms, ...

News from Europe

• Alstom to install its Atlas ERTMS signalling system on HanzelijnSaint Ouen Cedex, France - The Hanza Rail Team consortium consisting of Alstom and its Dutch partners Volker Rail, Strukton Rail and Arcadis, has signed a contract with Dutch infrastructure operator ProRail for the construction of the new railway line between Lelystad and Zwolle, known as the “Hanzelijn” line.