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

Sunday, 28 June 2009

BBC News

• Train and car collide at crossingA woman is airlifted to hospital after a collision between the car she was driving and a train on a level crossing.
• MP criticises rail bosses bonusesMP attacks windfall bonuses for Network Rail senior directors in light of criticism of the firm's performance.

The Herald

• Jaguar and Land Rover add to woes of giant Indian auto manufacturerTata Motors, the Indian car, bus and truck manufacturer that owns Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK, yesterday posted its first annual loss in eight years after sales at the luxury units plunged amid the global recession.
• Forth Ports reports solid trading as businesses pick upForth Ports is weathering the global downturn with solid trading across its English and Scottish ports, and says its slowest businesses have started to pick up in the second quarter of 2009.
• Outrage as Network Rail bosses awarded £1m bonusNetwork Rail has defied pressure from politicians, unions and its own regulator to curb executive pay by agreeing bonuses worth more than £1.2m for its executive board.

The Independent

• Inspectors finally deliver report into Rover collapse An official report into the collapse of MG Rover has finally been submitted to the Government, more than four years after the car-maker's demise, it emerged today.

The Telegraph

• Heathrow Terminal 5 to become art gallery Terminal 5 at Heathrow to be transformed into exhibition space.
• MPs second jobs: Robert Goodwill digs graves and cuts grass for an hour a weekRobert Goodwill the shadow transport minster spends an hour a week digging graves and cutting grass at a cemetary he helps run.

Daily Express

• Car industry rescue plan a £2.3bn flopA flagship Government scheme to help the car industry survive the recession has yet to pay out a single penny, despite the threat of job losses at Jaguar, Land Rover and Vauxhall.
• Eurostar sales downEurostar's ticket sales in the first few months of this year were
• Two tests of fire for BAWillie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, is facing a test of fire this week. On Tuesday, he hits a self-imposed deadline to reach agreement with 40,000 workers on major concessions designed to strengthen the airline. He is asking staff to accept voluntary redudancies, the ending of allowances and a single-offer pay package.
• Virgin aims to clip BA's wings at HeathrowVirgin Atlantic intends to merge or co-operate with other airlines so that it can take on arch-rival British Airways at Heathrow.

Newcastle Journal

• Biofuels could clean up Chernobyl 'badlands'Land contaminated by radioactive fallout and not fit for growing food could be cleaned up by growing biofuel crops that suck contaminants out of the ground
• Chicken feathers could make cheap hydrogen storeNeed a cheap way to store hydrogen? Forget expensive nanotubes and put cold feathers in your tank instead, say researchers

The News (Portsmouth)

• HMS Invincible is dead in the waterThe government claims she is part of the fleet, ready to be called upon to defend the country if needed.
• Fix hole in road now, councillor tells contractorA road in Portsmouth that has been sinking for months needs to be fixed now, says a leading councillor.

Carlisle News & Star

• Protest group in appeal for better cycle lanes in CarlisleCyclists took over Carlisle™s rush hour roads last night to campaign for better biking facilities in the city.

Forbes

• Ten Cars That Changed The World These vehicles changed lifestyles, habits and business plans; some even changed governments.

Washington Post

• GM to take on future product liability claimsGeneral Motors Corp. has agreed to take on responsibility for future product liability claims, removing what could have been a sizable roadblock on the automaker's path to a quick sale of its assets and emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a new company.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Fall in UK motor vehicle trafficThe level of motor vehicle traffic on roads in Britain dipped by 0.8 per cent or 4.1 billion vehicle kilometres between 2007 and 2008, it has been revealed.According to the Department for Transport's statistical bulletin, last year witnessed the first fall in traffic since 1979 to 508.9 billion vehicle kilometres.
• British road casualties drop to record levelsThe number of road casualties in Britain caused by accidents reported to the police fell to a record low of 2,538 in 2008, new figures have shown.Data from the Department for Transport indicated that the number of people killed or seriously injured on UK roads also dropped by seven per cent last year to 28,567.

Aviation Industry

• Hundreds Of BA Staff To Work For NothingBritish Airways says 7,000 of its staff have opted to take pay cuts while 800 will work for nothing.
• 15 orders for Boeing 787s are canceledQantas Airways Ltd. said Friday it has canceled orders for some Boeing 787s and delayed delivery of others as the recession slows air travel and tight credit hampers purchases of new aircraft.

Other News Sources

• MP criticises rail bosses bonusesNetwork Rail bosses should be focusing on efficiency, not giving six-figure bonuses to directors, the chair of the transport select committee has said.MP Louise Ellman was reacting to news that top Ne...
• Train control system fails in test following Washington DC train crashThe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that train control systems failed during investigative tests being carried out to determine the cause of the Washington DC train crash on Monday that left nine dead.
• Risk of jail for transport managersOne in three road crashes involves someone using their vehicle for work, placing managers in logistics and transport business at possible risk of jail under a new law which makes employers personally accountable for the safety of their employees during th
• Can UK lead electric car market?Later this year a few major car manufacturers and automotive suppliers will start a trial of new electric hybrids to see how the environmental vehicles translate in the real world once they are put through an everyday performance test.