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Friday, 03 July 2009

BBC News

• C-charge dodgers owe London £94mCongestion charge dodgers have racked as much as £94.4m in unpaid penalties since the road toll was introduced in central London in 2002.
• Commons debates school bus safetyA bill calling for the law to be toughened on school bus safety is to be debated in the House of Commons.
• Prescott on rail nationalisation [video clip]Former deputy PM John Prescott has made a short video about the government action on the East Coast rail franchise, before studio guest Will Self talks about the state of the railways.
• Funding for airport is approvedA £24.3m grant to help redevelop Newquay Airport has been approved by the European Commission.
• £34m revamp marks town 'big idea'An event has been held to mark progress in the first phase of a £34m revamp of a south Wales valleys town.
• Hitachi to sell batteries to GMHitachi says it will supply lithium-ion batteries to General Motors to power the company's hybrid cars from next year.

Financial Times

• Virgin Atlantic to cut flights and jobsThe UK long-haul airline controlled by Sir Richard Branson is reducing capacity by 7 per cent in the coming winter season and is planning to axe close to 8 per cent of its workforce
• China eyes $5bn railway IPOThe Chinese government has hired two foreign banks to arrange the public listing of a railway holding company in an IPO that could be worth as much as $5 billion

The Guardian

• Privatisation has been a train wreck [Ken Livingstone]With National Express abandoning a franchise, the system is bankrupt. Railway nationalisation is the only rational solution
• Transport for London in spending row over £2,761-a-day consultantsRMT describes fees as 'grotesque' as documents reveal single unit spent £8.8m on consultancy in past year
• Wrong route for the railways [letter]hock horror: National Express has given up the prestigious east coast mainline because it's losing money, but the public and media seem incapable of seeing the real story - or rather they are just beginning to
• National Express may lose contractsLord Adonis, transport secretary, wants to bring East Anglia and c2c routes under state controlThe government has a strong legal case for nationalising the c2c and National Express East Anglia franchises after the announcement by National Express that it will hand back its £1.4bn east coast contract, according to a respected rail industry lawyer.National Express is refusing to relinquish its two remaining rail contracts when it walks away from the London-to-Edinburgh route, as it is expected to do later this year. Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, is determined to strip the group of its ot...

The Telegraph

• Government greed caused the collapse of the east coast rail franchiseIt was obvious that National Express’s ridiculous bid to run the east coast rail franchise would end in tears. Ministers should have laughed when the firm offered to pay £1.4bn for an eight-year contract. After all, GNER - the best-run of all rail companies - had already been suffocated by a pledge to pay less money for a longer period.
• National Express under pressure over its East Anglia linesNational Express, the transport company, will have the East Coast main line take from its control later this year, if – as expected – it fails to make its annual franchise payment to the Government.
• Mr Money: the problem with congestionEven the cheapest new models are capable of exceeding the 70mph speed limit. And that's important. Time is money.
• A breath of fresh air for Britain's airportsAccording to the Department of Transport, in 2006 UK aviation emitted 41 million tons of carbon dioxide, or 6.4pc of the UK’s total CO2 emissions, but this could rise to about 66 million tons by 2050.
• EU puts disability scooters in same tax bracket as F1 carsThe European Union has been accused of imposing a

Times Online

• An individual approachNo industry has suffered more in this recession than the car industry. So, surely, now is the time to put worries about social and environmental issues aside and focus on recovery. This is just about survival, right?
• Reputations on line as Japan pulls out stops to win rail contractsA global boom in infrastructure projects worth more than £200 billion has prompted Japan to launch its most expansive charm offensive in the international game of railway diplomacy.
• The car stays in the garage as more drivers see green, cut trips and turn to public transportSurvey shows that nearly 70 per cent of environmentally aware people in Britain are looking to other ways of getting around
• TIE chief Richard Jeffrey says Edinburgh trams will be worth the waitTwo floors beneath Richard Jeffrey’s office in Haymarket, Edinburgh, tram works are in full swing. Cars inch into side streets, cyclists wobble past traffic cones, and above the noise of drills, you can almost pick out the sound of residents gnashing their teeth.
• As Virgin sheds jobs, chiefs enjoy 40% pay risesVirgin Atlantic, which has said it could cut up to 1,200 jobs because of the recession, awarded its senior managers a 40 per cent pay increase last year.

Mail Online

• Recession brings a bit of good news: gridlock falls by 13 per cent Gridlock on the nation's main roads and motorways has fallen by a staggering 13 per cent in just one year as the recession bites and fuel prices soar, official Government figures revealed today.
• Rail users across UK face years of 'cattle truck' overcrowding after National Express route is renationalisedExperts say the transport network will be hard hit as the Government suffers a from a shortage of cash after the East Coast main line was put under put under public control.

Network Rail

• UCKFIELD PASSENGERS TO BENEFIT FROM NEW STATION

Birmingham Post

• Centro launch consultation on Metro loop for WolverhamptonA consultation into £30 million plans to extend the Midland Metro tram system in a single track loop around Wolverhampton has been launched.
• £11m transport project at Birmingham International ready to startWork is due to start on a long-awaited £11 million transport project to improve links between Solihull and the region’s biggest airport and exhibition centre.
• Officials deny threat to high speed rail link for BirminghamAmbitious plans for a high speed rail line between London and Birmingham have been thrown into doubt following reports Department for Transport was facing a £30 billion funding gap.

Bristol Live

• First Great Western back on trackFirst Great Western has been singled out for praise by the consumer watchdog that monitors the performance of rail operators.

Journal Live

• Questions to be asked over East Coast Main LineNATIONAL Express is only the latest operator to fall foul of the Government’s railway franchise policy.
• No compensation over Newcastle Airport noiseLEVELS of noise pollution caused by the region’s biggest airport are today revealed for the first time.

London Evening Standard

• Transport mess? Blame 11 ministersIs it any wonder the railways are in a mess, given the turnover of Transport Secretaries? During the privatisation of the railways in the 1990s, the Tories managed to get through five Secretaries of State. In 12 years of Labour, we are incredibly on our eleventh Transport supremo, Andrew Adonis's predecessors including such discredited politicos as John Prescott, Stephen Byers, Ruth Kelly and Geoff Hoon.
• Tube too hot for cattle as station shops cash inAs London headed for its hottest day of the year, shops across the Tube network were accused of cashing in by overpricing bottled water

Metro

• 31ºC...but buses keep heating onBus passengers have been roasting in temperatures as hot as Dubai because drivers are stopped from turning off the heaters during the heatwave. Sweaty commuters have complained of 'sauna-like' conditions and 45ºC heat on their journeys to work.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Stagecoach doesn't rule out interest in East Coast Main LineTRAIN and bus operator Stagecoach has not ruled out interest in the East Coast mainline train service which runs through Grantham and Newark.
• Fears that Tories will wreck tram remainTHE city council has met with officials from the Department for Transport to discuss the future of Nottingham's tram scheme.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Bid to ban overtaking school busesThe UK transport minister is to consider the case for an experimental ban in Scotland on vehicles overtaking when pupils are boarding or leaving school buses.
• Station on the right track with passenger numbersA NEWLY reopened Aberdeenshire railway station has exceeded expectations after just a month.

The York Press

• Prime Minister Gordon Brown insists train headquarters will stay in York during public ownershipGORDON BROWN has personally pledged York rail jobs were safe under nationalisation – and heard pleas for the city to remain the long-term headquarters of the East Coast Main Line.
• York rail jobs safe...for nowYORK will remain as the base for the East Coast Main Line when the Government takes over the route later this year.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Leeds-Manchester rail commuters face fare hikeRail commuters between Leeds and Manchester could face soaring ticket prices as train bosses attempt to STOP them travelling in peak hours to ease overcrowding.
• We want to invest in public transport schemePRIME Minister Gordon Brown has offered fresh hope that plans for a congestion-busting trolley bus scheme in Leeds could win Government support.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Revamp up in the air after East Coast Mainline franchise ditchedGRAND plans to transform Peterborough's railway station into a "world class" travel hub appeared to be in disarray today after National Express ditched its East Coast Mainline franchise.

New Scientist

• Money flows into green transport despite recessionInvestment in green transport rose in the second quarter of 2009 – bucking a six-month-long downward trend

The Economist

• Renationalising the railways: End of the lineAnother retreat from the East Coast line shows confusion in railway policyTHE history of Britain’s railways is a baroque and convoluted 150-year tale in which dozens of companies have merged, split, gone bankrupt, been nationalised, been reprivatised and so on. The latest twist came on July 1st, when the government announced that it was taking back the London-to-Edinburgh East Coast Main Line (ECML) because National Express, the transport conglomerate responsible for running trains on it, was no longer able to make its contracted payments. This comes just two years after the previous ope...

Aviation Industry

• Transport cuts short-sighted and damaging, says FTALeading trade body Freight Transport Association (FTA), has warned that spending cuts on major transport projects, owing to a massive public investment shortfall, will not only damage the UK’s road and rail infrastructure, but severely jeopardise Britain’s economic future.
• Blue Onboard and Velvet Launch Trials of an Innovative New Bluetooth Marketing Solution on BusesBlue Onboard has developed a Bluetooth proximity marketing solution specifically for targeting bus passengers, allowing highly effective campaigns to be run whilst the audience is in a state of dwell time. Velvet, a bus company operating services in and around the Eastleigh area of Hampshire will be their launch partner, allowing the system to be installed and trialled on all of their buses and routes. The Blue Onboard system will allow campaigns to be targeted by time of day, bus route and destination, location and even external factors such as the weather.
• Heathrow fleet foxes NOx emissionsHeathrow™s ground-breaking Clean Vehicles Programme is going from strength to strength, with vehicles assessed in 2008 showing a 24% reduction in NOx emissions, and four members receiving awards at a recent seminar at the Heathrow Academy...

Other News Sources

• CARLISLE'S STOBART GROUP TIPPED TO BID FOR EAST COAST RAIL LINE CONTRACTCumbrian haulage giant the Stobart Group could mount a bid to run the main London to Edinburgh rail route, according to speculation.
• All aboard as Brown pays region a visitPRIME Minister Gordon Brown yesterday got a firsthand view of the East Coast Main Line during a whistlestop visit to the region.
• Talking businessTHE government this week re-nationalised rail services running through Wakefield after the failure of a private franchise to run the line. The move could hit the taxpayer with a £40m bill for operating the East Coast mainline after National Express was stripped of the deal on Wednesday.
• Elaine Holt to head publicly-owned East Coast franchiseTransport minister Lord Adonis has announced that Elaine Holt, until recently the managing director of First Capital Connect, has been appointed as chief executive of the new government-owned company that will take control of the East Coast rail franchise from National Express later this year.
• Rail services ’back on track’ says FGW bossThe new boss of First Great Western (FGW) has assured Reading commuters that services have come on “leaps and bounds” in the past year.
• Bombardier signs largest ever tram orderCANADA: Bombardier Transportation has announced its 'largest single order ever for light rail vehicles worldwide', covering 204 trams worth C$851m. Toronto Transit Commission Chief General Manager Gary Webster gave Bombardier the contract award letter on June 26, immediately after a special meeting of Toronto city council which had voted to pick up the share of the cost which the council had hoped would be met from federal sources.
• Hitachi delivers high-speed rail in U.K. [ Japan ]LONDON (Bloomberg) Britain's first bullet trains entered service in London this week, bringing high-speed travel to the world's oldest rail network, but government spending cuts prompted by the global recession may stunt plans to extend the project.
• Commission authorises UK state aid to improve freight transport by rail and inland waterwayuropean Commission decided today not to raise any objections to a new aid scheme which will encourage modal shift of freight from road to rail and inland waterway within the UK. The Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) scheme will thus grant financial support to intermodal services provided that they generate environmental benefits within the UK.
• Government gets on board for overseas contracts [Japan]The government, looking to take advantage of the global concern over climate change, is getting on board with the private sector in promoting the sale of "super express" bullet trains in the United States and Brazil.
• First Hull Trains: We will get betterFirst Hull Trains has vowed to improve its service after receiving criticism from passengers. Following news the Government will take over troubled east coast rail operator National Express, train users have taken the opportunity to criticise the city company.
• Keltbray buys Gamble Rail170 jobs are saved as ground works contractor acquires firm in administration for undisclosed sum
• Two-mode hybrid buses debut in the UKHybrid transit buses using the GM-Allison Two-mode hybrid system are becoming fairly common in North America with several thousand now on the road.
• The bike park arriving at Paddington...This is the revolutionary “cycle warehouse” for up to 1,000 bikes that could be installed at Paddington station. If the £750,000 scheme goes ahead it will become Britain's biggest station cycle park, more than double the size of the facility that opened near London Bridge last month.
• High Speed Rail to Vegas' } ] PageVars.set('title', escape("Coming Soon: High Speed Rail to Vegas? - CBSNews")); PageVars.set('description', escape("The clogged tourist travel route between Southern California and Las Ve...
• £30 billion funding gap for transportAs the East Coast mainline is nationalised, details emerged of a potential £30 billion reduction in capital expenditure for transport projects.
• Lloyd Fraser to ditch biofuel trial?Lloyd Fraser Group looks set to abandon plans to run trucks on biodiesel at the end of a six-week trial after fuel consumption worsened by an average of 5%.
• East Coast Transportation Becomes Even More User FriendlyEast Coast Transportaion announces the launch of their long awaited website, www.ectjax.com. The move makes it even easier for its customers to make reservations and get instant quotes from the comfort of their own home or office.
• Lufthansa appoints WundermanLufthansa, the German airline, has appointed Wunderman London to handle its digital and direct marketing business.
• Commission to investigate airline takeover bidCompetition concerns over Lufthansa's proposed deal for Austrian Airlines.
• Sweden tables eco-efficiency roadmap for EuropeA report by the Stockholm Environment Institute, entitled 'A European Eco-efficient Economy', will provide a basis for discussions during an informal meeting of energy and environment ministers in Åre on 23-25 July.

Other Subscription Services

• Hapag-Lloyd looks to cut costs furtherGERMAN container line has hired international consultancy Roland Berger to find further cost reductions.