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

Thursday, 11 June 2009

BBC News

• Official opening for freight parkAn £8m rail freight park in Shropshire has been officially opened by shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers.
• Mayor accused of playing politicsAs a 48-hour strike by Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) members continues, their leader Bob Crow has written an open letter to London Mayor Boris Johnson.
• Tube strike chaos set to continueMillions of commuters face a second day of travel disruption as a 48-hour Tube strike continues.
• 'Forgotten' rail line seeks boostA new report has been published setting out plans to breathe new life into "Scotland's forgotten rail line".
• Communal cabbingWith the Tube largely shut for a two-day strike, Londoners are being encouraged to taxi-share. Why save it just for crisis days?
• Shell sells straw-based biofuel Royal Dutch Shell is selling a biofuel made from straw at one of their service stations in Canada.

Financial Times

• Commuters try alternatives to defy strikeBuses already full of passengers sailed past the crowded bus stops outside Liverpool Street Station on Wednesday morning, leaving hundreds of commuters hoping the next one might get them to work on time.
• No deal on pay despite walkout on TubeLondon Underground management and the system's main trade union remained at loggerheads last night after the first day of a 48-hour strike produced serious disruption...
• Shipping bodies angry at fee moveShipping lobby groups reacted angrily after the Department for Transport announced only minor reductions in planned increases to a fee paid by all sea-going vessels visiting Britain
• Chinese imports keep dry bulk carriers afloatSurge of iron ore and coal imports into China boosts the earnings of dry bulk carriers and halts wave of bankruptcies and defaults
• BAA passenger numbers fall 7.3%London airports continue to suffer falls in passenger numbers, but Heathrow is showing some signs of stemming the rate of losses, according to the latest figures from airports operator BAA

The Guardian

• Bikes, buses and chaos as tube strike forces London to go overgroundLondon endured its most disruptive bout of industrial action for nearly two years yesterday as a tube strike hit thousands of fans attending the England World Cup qualifier at Wembley and threatened to cost the UK economy up to £100m.
• Tube strike brings chaos to London¢ RMT action could cost economy up to £100m¢ Fans to be reimbursed for missing England matchLondon endured its most disruptive bout of industrial action for nearly two years today as a tube strike hit thousands of fans attending the England World Cup qualifier at Wembley and threatened to cost the UK economy up to £100m.As many as 12,000 fans were estimated not to have been able to reach Wembley for the match, or decided to remain at home and avoid a difficult journey, while afterwards those who had attended and gone by car said the traffic was still gridlocked at midnight last night.Millions ...

The Herald

• Stagecoach motors ahead in North AmericaPerth-based transport group Stagecoach yesterday claimed to be a winner from the economic downturn in the United States by attracting more than one million passengers in just six months to its cut-price Megabus.com coach service.
• BAA suffers 7.3% drop in passengersGlasgow and Aberdeen airports continued to haemorrhage passengers last month as the aviation downturn took a further toll on owner BAA.
• Rail noise residents set to win millionsAnger over night freight trains

The Independent

• London walks, drives and rides to work (after a lot of queueing) London Underground workers were at loggerheads with each other yesterday as hundreds of drivers defied a 48-hour strike and crossed the picket lines to run a limited service on the capital's tube lines.

The Telegraph

• Tube strike causes disruption for millions in LondonA strike by London Underground workers has caused disruption for millions of people in the capital who usually travel by Tube.

Times Online

• BAA suffers 7.3% fall in May trafficThe number of passengers using Britain's main airports fell by 7.3 per cent in May compared to the same month last year, as the recession and the weakness of sterling continued to hit overseas travel.
• Triumph for Obama as Chrysler seals rescue by FiatChrysler has closed its deal with Fiat, clearing the way for the restructured US carmaker to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• BP's Tony Hayward warns of dwindling demand for oilIt used to be the nightmare scenario that the world would run out of oil and civilisation would grind to a halt. Not so, Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, said yesterday: global oil production will decline, but because of dwindling demand, not because of a scarcity of supplies of crude.
• BA chief Willie Walsh gets pay rise despite record lossesWillie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, will receive an inflation-busting pay rise taking his salary to £743,000 this year and could gain a further £1.1 million in deferred share bonuses.

Reuters News

• Tube strike slams commutersLONDON (Reuters) - Commuters and football fans endured travel chaos on Wednesday as a 48-hour strike hit most of the capital's underground rail network.

Daily Express

• Fiat buys ChryslerITALIAN car maker Fiat yesterday took control of bankrupt American car giant Chrysler after the US Supreme Court rejected claims that the deal was unconstitutional.
• Stansted in sale callBUDGET airline Ryanair yesterday called for the early sale of Stansted Airport after passenger numbers plummeted a dramatic 18.5 per cent last month compared with the previous year.

Mail Online

• BA boss Willie Walsh says no to annual bonus over airline job cuts and losses
• Boris ready to face commuters on second day of Tube strike

Network Rail

• THAMESLINK PROGRAMME GETS NEW CHIEF
• THE WRITING™S OFF THE WALL FOR APPROACH TO BIRMINGHAM
• NETWORK RAIL WORK WITH LEEDS YOUTH OFFENDING SERVICE HELPS WIN NATIONAL BUSINESS AWARD
• KENT HIGH SPEED RAIL SAFETY DVD HELPS WIN NATIONAL BUSINESS AWARD
• GOSPORT BASED APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME HELPS WIN NATIONAL BUSINESS AWARD

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Porthmadog bybass given the go aheadA £50m bypass for Porthmadog has been given the go ahead by Welsh transport minister Ieuan Wyn Jones today.

London Evening Standard

• Plane protesters lock down jet with 'human wheel clamp' at City airportFive protesters in pinstriped suits and bowler hats chained themselves to a private jet at London City Airport
• Bob Crow quit Tube talks saying: I've got a strike to runTalks to avert the Tube strike collapsed at the very last minute after both sides believed they had agreed a deal on redundancies, the Standard can reveal
• Tube unions at war over strikeA war broke out between the two Tube drivers' unions as a strike failed to bring the network to a halt

Metro

• Insults fly over Tube strike claimsLondon Mayor Boris Johnson says claims that he sabotaged a last-minute deal with the RMT union are 'b****cks'.

Newcastle Journal

• Map-reading helps hot hybrids save fuelTo keep the aircon running, hybrid vehicles tend abandon economy mode at halts, but researchers have used location sensing to get round the problem

The News (Portsmouth)

• Portsmouth motorists have their say on transport servicesPortsmouth residents are getting a chance to rate the city's roads and transport services.
• Rail firm pledges more staff and station CCTV by 2011More staff and CCTV cameras could become a reality at scores of train stations in the south east.

Blackpool Gazette

• Flights withdrawn from Blackpool AirportAN AIRLINE which joined Blackpool International Airport two months ago has announced it is pulling out of the terminal.

Peterborough Telegraph

• BAA passenger numbers hit by downturnPassenger numbers at Stansted fell by 18.5% last month as airlines slashed capacity at the airport, while BAA experienced a 7.3% decrease overall.

Washington Post

• Problems of old Chrysler linger at 'new' Chrysler DETROIT -- Chrysler may have been granted a fresh start, but it still faces old problems: how to sell enough cars and realign its fleet away from the trucks and SUVs consumers seem to no longer want or be able to afford.

Aviation Industry

• London Mayor offers £31m fund to turn food waste into energyThe Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced a £31 million funding package today to support five "bio-fuel" plants to generate energy from the capital's waste.
• Passenger traffic in line with recent trendThe UK airports owned and operated by BAA handled a total of 11.8 million passengers in May, a drop of 7.3% on the same month last year.
• Iberia traffic drops 13.7%Business travel slump hits long haul networkread more
• US travel down 9% - BAAFalling numbers "in line" with trendsread more
• "Cash rich" rivals threaten BAAirline highlights risk for coming year British Airways has highlighted the risk "cash rich" rivals pose to its operations in the coming financial year. "Some competitors have cost structures that are lower than ours or have other competitive advantages such as being supported by government intervention," BA said in its annual report for the year ending March 31.

Other News Sources

• BAA passenger numbers hit by downturnBAA saw passenger numbers fall 7.3% last month after the recession impacted North Atlantic traffic and airlines slashed capacity at Stansted
• Revealed: Boris 'responsible for scuppering strike deal'The Mayor of London ordered London Underground to scupper an 11-th hour deal to avert today's Tube strike, sources have indicated.
• Fuel-price hedging service goes liveFuel-price hedging firm Infin Management's Fuelbeater website has gone live this week following trials with 30 haulage companies earlier in the year.
• Taxpayer exposed by MetronetDepartment for Transport (DfT) officials failed to identify major risks to taxpayers when awarding PPP contracts to Metronet, an official report on the Tube upgrade contractor™s collapse revealed last week.
• Costain win Highways Agency frameworkA Costain-Lafarge joint venture has won one of five Highways Agency frameworks for the East and South East of England worth up to £400M
• Prescott Lock opens to trafficThe Three Mills Lock - also known as Prescott Lock - has opened to traffic, the first new lock to be built in London for more than 20 years.
• £100M tram upgrade for BlackpoolThe century-old Blackpool to Fleetwood Tramway has won a £100M upgrade for new trams, replacement track, new stops and a new depot, with work beginning later this month.
• Maersk Raises Rates on Far East to Europe RouteMaersk Line would like to announce rate increases on our services from the Far East to Europe.  The trading conditions for the carriers operating in these markets are still subject to unacceptable rate levels and the situation is unsustainable in the longer term. The rate increases are necessary...
• Troubled Clean Sky programme back on track: new chiefClean Sky, the troubled public-private research bid to develop environmentally beneficial aviation technology, is making up for lost time, according to the...
• Commission wants cleaner, greener European transportPolicy paper to call for reduction in use of oil and the development of electric vehicles a priority.
• Online middleman saves hauliers from running emptyA Wythenshawe-based company which enables haulage firms to fill empty lorries, is planning to expand into Australia and Germany.
• Altrincham Metrolink line set for refurbTransport bosses have given the green light to £3.5m of improvements on the Altrincham Metrolink line.