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

Tuesday, 07 July 2009

BBC News

• Tube firm cuts 'may hit Olympics'"Significant scaling back" of essential upgrades to Tube routes by a contractor looking to save £2bn could hit jobs and the Olympics, a union has warned.
• Company's buses tracked in cityMore than 150 buses in Coventry have tracking devices to give people waiting at bus stops up-to-date information.
• Mayor 'neglecting inner London'Mayor of London Boris Johnson has been accused of "neglecting" calls for a Tube extension in inner London in favour of boroughs that voted for him.
• Prius tops Japan's car sale chartToyota's Prius has become the first hybrid car to outsell all other vehicles in Japan, latest industry figures show.
• MG Rover in fraud investigationThe Serious Fraud Office is to investigate the collapse of MG Rover in 2005, the business secretary has confirmed.
• BA staff reject cost-cutting planA meeting of BA workers rejects the airline's plans to reduce costs by cutting thousands of jobs and freezing pay.
• Scrappage scheme helps car ordersThe UK's car scrappage scheme is having a

Financial Times

• Daewoo Logistics in receivershipDaewoo Logistics, a mid-sized South Korean shipping and logistics company, has filed for court receivership after struggling to pay back maturing debts. The filing...
• Ryanair achieves record passenger numbers The Irish low cost carrier has become Europe's biggest short-haul airline measured by passenger numbers and is continuing to grow rapidly during the depth of the recession in strong contrast to most of its rivals
• Airline publicity 'dogfight' hides realityFast-growing Ryanair is trumpeting its success by saying it is much larger than rival British Airways but there are several ways to lay claim to the top spot

The Guardian

• England's pork barrel politics is paying for airlines to burn the planetDemand for new routes and airports comes not from passengers but unelected, unaccountable development agencies
• New Labour - Miliband's verdictPoor at transport, environment and local government, but good at everything else
• National Express's east coast line is 'an accident waiting to happen'A junior transport minister has warned of fears among National Express staff that a "major accident is just around the corner" on the east coast mainline, partly because of the pressure of staff cuts.
• Barton's Britain: Watford Gap servicesFor the last 50 years, the M1 motorway has run through this stretch of Britain. The country's first inter-urban motorway connects Leeds and London and runs 193 miles long. Its first section opened in 1959 at what is now junction 5 and ran as far as junction 18. Since then it has been extended both south and north, and widened to accommodate the growth in traffic; in 1959 it carried 13,000 cars a day, today it serves at least 88,000 vehicles a day.

The Independent

• The trainspotter now arriving in the UAE is the late golden boyRichard Bowker, the soon to be ex-boss of National Express, is heading for a plum job, despite the East Coast mainline debacle, writes Mark Leftly

Times Online

• BA staff reject plan to cut 3,700 jobsBritish Airways (BA) workers today overwhelmingly rejected the struggling airline's plan to cut thousands of jobs, overhaul working conditions and freeze pay.
• Scrappage scheme puts car sales on road to recoveryThe Government™s œcash for bangers scheme has given the car industry a much-needed boost, with sales to private buyers rising for the first time in 18 months.
• Temperature rises between BA and staffBritish Airways faces tense talks with union representatives tomorrow after staff overwhelmingly rejected the airline™s cost-cutting proposals.

Daily Record

• Edinburgh Airport evacuated and flights delayed in security alertEDINBURGH Airport was hit by a security alert today, with flights delayed and hundreds of passengers evacuated after a suspicious package was found.

Mail Online

• We'll run subsidised dial-a-taxi service for rural areas stranded by bus cuts, say ToriesMillions of isolated country dwellers left stranded by infrequent or non-existent bus services are to be offered a subsidised shared 'dial-a-taxi' scheme if the Conservatives win the next election.

Network Rail

• THAMESLINK MILESTONE AS WORK STARTS ON LONGER PLATFORMS AT ST ALBANS
• SHOCK COFFIN POSTERS WARN LEEDS PASSENGERS - STAY OFF THE TRACKS OR RISK DEATH

Belfast Telegraph

• National Express in £400m cash-call National Express is reportedly planning a £400 million investor cash-call as speculation mounted over the group after the Government's move to re-nationalise its East Coast rail franchise. Related StoriesAepona strengthens its positionAwards to recognise our true business achieversCross-border talks on Ireland's economic revivalAdvertising spending 'to fall until 2011'Four star status for £5m upgrade hotel
• Scrappage scheme slows car sale fall The Government's "cash for bangers" car-scrappage scheme is slowing the decline in new vehicle sales, figures out today revealed. Related StoriesAwards to recognise our true business achieversNational Express in £400m cash-callCross-border talks on Ireland's economic revivalAdvertising spending 'to fall until 2011'Four star status for £5m upgrade hotel

Birmingham Post

• National Rail launch new campaign to deter rail trespassingA shock poster using coffin-shaped railway sleepers with “Rest in Peace” messages has been put up in Birmingham New Street station to deter track trespassers.

London Evening Standard

• Give up your car to rent an electric one for £4 an hourThousands of Londoners were today urged to give up their cars in an attempt to make the capital more environmentally friendly.
• Act now or Paris will overtake London as Europe's capital cityCrossrail was first proposed 40 years ago and identified as the most important rail project in London, although it would cost £300 million.
• The fiasco which, unlike the trains, just keeps runningHas there ever been a fiasco as bad as the railway privatisation? Since 1994, we have had the most complex structure imaginable inflicted on what was then the most cost-effective railway in Europe in terms of taxpayer support. In 1994, the rail network cost £1.6 billion. By 2005, it was nearly £5 billion.
• £2bn funding row threatens work on three Tube lines

Metro

• BA workers reject pay freeze and job cutsA mass meeting of British Airways workers today rejected the airline's plans to cut costs by axing thousands of jobs and freezing pay.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Tram funding may hinge on county's intentionsTHE city council has set Friday as the deadline for the county council to pledge it will not wreck plans to extend Nottingham's tram system.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Shock coffin posters at Leeds stationA shock poster using coffin-shaped railway sleepers with "Rest in Peace" messages has been put up in Leeds station to deter track trespassers.

Blackpool Gazette

• Take-off at last for £50m air terminalTHE much-vaunted £50m overhaul of Manchester Airport is complete.

Forbes

• Will GM Kill Its Electric Car? New technology usually goes on luxury vehicles first. GM chose to make its electric Volt a Chevrolet. Was that wise?

Aviation Industry

• The Earth moves for StanstedA geological phenomenon has caused Stansted Airport to undertake the unusual task of renaming its 3,000-metre runway.
• AIS Celebrates It's Nineteenth Year In Airport BusinessIn July 2008 AIS installed a system at Oxford Airport. The system comprised of Airport Landing Dues Information System (ALDIS 2000) linked to the Pegasus accounting system and Cash and Fuel Invoicing, part of the AFIDS 2001 suite of programs.
• Ryanair to make passengers standThe low-cost airline would charge passengers less on
• American Airlines load factor remains stable at 85%American Airlines Inc. and subsidiary American Eagle reported declines in traffic for the month of June.

Other News Sources

• Stagecoach expands Icomera Wi-Fi on board UK bus fleetsSittingbourne Kent, July 7th 2009 – Icomera AB, the world’s leading provider of cellular broadband gateways, has announced that Stagecoach Group plc, one of the UK's largest transport operators, has expanded its in-vehicle Wi-Fi services for passengers across multiple fleets in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Wales. Stagecoach already utilizes Icomera's award-winning Moovbox M200 Mobile Broadband Gateway to provide mobile Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity to passengers at speeds up to several megabits per second on bus services in London, Oxfordshire and Scotland.
• £5 refunds for Oyster card holders hit by Tube strikesCommuters can apply for a ’goodwill payment’ if they can prove that they suffered a travel nightmare as a result of the Tube strike
• £5 refunds for Oyster card holders hit by Tube strikesCommuters can apply for a ’goodwill payment’ if they can prove that they suffered a travel nightmare as a result of the Tube strike
• BA traffic down but 'stable' British Airways said falling passenger numbers have stabilised despite a 5% reduction in traffic year-on-year in June. The fall was in line with the previous...
• British Airways staff reject cost-cutting dealA mass meeting of British Airways cabin crew has rejected the airline's demands for new pay and conditions
• Tram contractLinz Linien, the Austrian transport operator, has awarded a €69m contract to Bombardier Transportation for the supply of 23 Flexity Outlook trams.
• More road building will mean more congestion, says Campaign for Better TransportCongestion on motorways and trunk roads will get significantly worse unless the Government rethinks its transport policy, according to a new report published by the Green motoring lobby group the Campaign for Better Transport.
• Norbert Dentressangle staff transfer to FQRA total of 331 Norbert Dentressangle (ND) employees are set to transfer to First Quench Retailing (FQR) following the drinks supplier's decision to take its logistics operation back in-house.
• Elddis Transport unveils new liveryElddis Transport, which can trace its origins back to the 19th century, is celebrating the life of founder Siddle C Cook with a new truck painted in its old livery.
• Novoship names new bossIGOR Tonkovidov has taken the helm at Novorossiysk Shipping.
• ITIS launches Australian traffic serviceAltrincham-based traffic information firm ITIS Holdings, which de-listed from the stockmarket in December, has signed a partnership deal with Australian mobile network operator SingTel Optus to launch a nationwide traffic information service in the country.
• Monarch adds to Manchester networkMonarch is expanding its route network from Manchester airport by adding two destinations. The airline is launching year-round scheduled services to the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.