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

Saturday, 29 August 2009

BBC News

• Belfast escapes airline pay cutsAer Lingus staff pay-cuts are unlikely to affect the company staff working on its Belfast operation.
• Rail works hit holiday travellersBank holiday weekend travellers may face disruption as work is carried out on one of the country's busiest rail lines.
• Europe looks to buy Soyuz craftEurope is seeking to maintain flight opportunities for its astronauts by buying Soyuz spacecraft from Russia.
• Business class drop hits IberiaSpanish airline Iberia records a loss for the first half of the year after demand from business class passengers fell.
• New airline routes promise jobsAround 250 new jobs are created at East Midlands Airport after airline Jet2 announced it will have a base there from next Spring.

Financial Times

• Iberia to cut deeper into capacityIberia vows to step up its cost-cutting programme as the Spanish flag-carrier slides further into the red
• National Express rejects revised Cosmen-CVC bidBritish transport group National Express has rejected a proposed £696m takeover approach led by its main shareholder, saying an equity fundraising is now its main goal
• National Express cash call after bid rejectionNational Express is expected to press ahead with a £350m rights issue after rejecting a £696m cash takeover proposal from a consortium led by its main shareholder

The Guardian

• Dude, where's my new car?It's the new '59' plate this week “ yet Britain's car dealers are running out of motors. As Miles Brignall discovers, you'll have to wait until next year for sought-after modelsCar number plates change next week, but anyone wanting to drive off the forecourt with a
• Still living in the fast laneIt may be Clarkson worship or even puma envy, but despite rehab I'm still addicted to speedA snapshot of modern life: driving at 19mph this week through a stretch of a Somerset town dotted with lollipops bearing the black number 20, I felt resented and harassed by the drivers behind, bumper-brushing in their haste to overtake. One gave me the finger as he roared past. I smugly looked to the waiting speed camera to flash him, but it didn't. He, a local, knew what a visitor wouldn't: that you could get away with speeding here.Later, on the way out of the town, irritatedly switching between seemi...
• Court blocks girl's solo sailing plansCase of Dutch schoolgirl planning epic voyage stirs debate over trend of young people setting out on solo sea questsEven as 17-year-old Mike Perham lands in Portsmouth tomorrow as the youngest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe, 10,000 miles away in Queensland, Australia, another teenager is poised to try to wrest the record from him.Jessica Watson, 16, is the next in a queue of super-teens eager to pit themselves against the elements. Her boat, Pink Lady, is being kitted out, and she goes next month. Abby Sunderland, 15, plans to follow in November, setting forth from California on the s...
• Thousands trapped in 28-mile jam on M5Thousands of motorists were stranded for more than six hours on the M5 yesterday as police tried in vain to stop a man jumping from a bridge.Queues stretched to 28 miles as police negotiators spoke to the man on the Avonmouth bridge, near Bristol, at the start of the bank holiday weekend. The alarm was raised at 1pm and negotiations lasted until shortly after 7.30pm when the man, in his late 50s and from Bristol, leapt from the bridge into the water below. Coastguards recovered his body.The northbound carriageway was closed from around 2pm between junction 19 at Portishead and junction 18 at A...

The Independent

• Minor British Institutions: The Moulton bicycle He may not have re-invented the wheel, but Alex Moulton took a lot on when he decided to redesign the bicycle 50 years ago. Like them or loathe them, all the small-wheeled city bikes you see today are a bit of an homage to the original Moulton
• Bank holiday travel disruption expectedTravellers face road and rail chaos over the bank holiday weekend, with major highways expected to be packed and many trains replaced by buses.

The Scotsman

• Bank holiday travellers face delaysTravellers heading off to enjoy a sunshine-and-showers bank holiday weekend will have to contend with busy roads and disrupted rail services.

The Telegraph

• Motorists waste £140 each on 'overpriced' car insuranceMotorists waste more than £140 a year each by failing to shop around for their car insurance a survey claimed.

Times Online

• Tractor range: anger on the road to nowhere It is a sunny Sunday morning somewhere in rural Yorkshire, and I am being followed by hundreds of people who want to kill me.
• The best way through a traffic jam In his short story The Southern Thruway, Julio Cortázar, the Argentine writer, who was living in France at the time, envisioned a colossal traffic jam that develops, on a summer Sunday, on the main route heading back to Paris. So thrombotic is this blockade that an instantaneous community emerges — a Glastonbury of the tarmac — with people falling in love, dying, searching for overpriced provisions, creeping ahead a few feet every day or so. “The engineer decided not to leave his car again,” Cortázar wrote, “and to just wait for the police to so...
• Cash for clunkers boosts US consumer spendConsumer spending was boosted in the United States last month by the Government™s unexpectedly successful
• Stagecoach ponders late bid for National ExpressStagecoach is considering a last-minute bid for National Express after its rival turned down an offer from CVC Capital Partners to take it private.

Daily Express

• Stagecoach silent on possible nat ex bidCity job losses hit passenger numbers at train and bus operator Stagecoach but the transportation group kept quiet about a possible bid for rival National Express.

Daily Record

• Superjumbo to make first flying visit to Scotland next weekTHE world's largest commercial airliner - the so-called Superjumbo - is set to make it's first visit to Scotland next week.
• SNP slated over green credentials as new figures show half ignored trains for carsHALF of Scottish Government ministers failed to let the train take the strain on official engagements last year, official statistics showed today.

Mail Online

• Polish trucker downed whisky and vodka as he drove ... then fell asleep in the middle lane of M20 motorway
• Dutch girl, 13, placed under state care after parents agree to let her sail round the world
• Motorway misery starts early for the great Bank Holiday getaway

The Mirror

• Bank holiday travellers face delaysTravellers heading off to enjoy a sunshine-and-showers bank holiday weekend will have to contend with busy roads and disrupted rail services.

Network Rail

• EWELL WEST STEPS UP TO MEET PASSENGER NEEDS
• NORTH COTSWOLD LINE PRIMED FOR EXTRA TRACKPreparatory work on the North Cotswold line is progressing on target, and Network Rail expects services to return to normal after the August bank holiday.

Belfast Telegraph

• Aer Lingus losses soar as tickets get cheaper Irish airline Aer Lingus has reported a large loss for the first half of the year and said it expects tough conditions for airlines to continue. Related StoriesLord Rana elected GOPIO presidentWatchdog backs a tax to combat big City bonusesAgricultural machinery company ploughs aheadRetailers positive despite poor sales figuresINM reports ‘comparatively resilient performance’ in challenging times
• David Prosser: More strong headwinds in store for airline industry Iata's claim yesterday that an air traffic recovery may have begun will no doubt be welcomed by the global airline industry, but there was precious little evidence of any turnaround in the results of Aer Lingus, which were published almost simultaneously. Or, for that matter, in the downbeat demeanour of British Airways boss Willie Walsh in the interview he gave this paper earlier this week. Related StoriesJames Moore: Be careful what you wish for in Rover investigation

London Evening Standard

• Airlines to charge for second bags
• Five-hour jam on the M25... fingers crossed for a better bank holidayMotorists were stranded for up to five hours and hundreds of travellers missed flights after the busiest section of the M25 was closed following a crash involving a petrol tanker
• Budget airline to open new airport base
• Court stops sailor, 13, from round the world solo tripDutch girl who wants to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world has been placed under state care for two months

Metro

• Thousands trapped in M5 stand-offThousands of motorists were trapped for more than six hours in their cars after a motorway was closed during a police negotiation with a suicidal man.
• Bank holiday travellers face delaysTravellers heading off to enjoy a sunshine-and-showers bank holiday weekend will have to contend with busy roads and disrupted rail services.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Eastern Airways to fly Newcastle to BergenFLIGHTS are being launched from Newcastle to one of its twin cities. Eastern Airways is introducing the service from Tyneside to Bergen, Norway, from October 5.

The News (Portsmouth)

• Roadworks suspended to keep the traffic goingROADWORKS are being put off in a bid to ease traffic congestion over the bank holiday.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Highland railway crossing offences down by a third in last three monthsThe number of offences at railway level crossings in the Highlands fell by one third in the last three months, despite a recent œnear disaster when a passenger train clipped a refuse lorry.
• Swinney hails new A9 junctionTHE new £2.7million Bankfoot junction on the A9 Perth to Inverness road will reduce congestion and improve road safety, it was claimed yesterday.

The York Press

• Cloud hanging over hundreds of York railway workers™ roles HUNDREDS of jobs in York could be at risk after Network Rail announced a massive restructuring exercise.
• Transport chiefs study options to improve city junction A BLUEPRINT for making one of the busiest and riskiest gateways to York city centre safer is to be drawn up “ but any solution could cost more than £500,000 and create more queues.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Car park scheme hailedA scheme that has seen off-peak car parking charges cut in Colchester has been hailed as a success in terms of attracting more visitors.

Sunderland Echo

• Bus driver who hit drunk man guilty of being carelessA bus driver, looking at his timetable when his vehicle hit a drunk man, has been found guilty of careless driving.

International Herald Tribune

• Boeing, Behind Schedule, Plans Dreamliner FlightBoeing said it would record a pretax charge of $2.5 billion in the third quarter because of the plane’s delays.

Washington Post

• Germany says talks with GM on Opel far from over BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The German government said on Friday its talks with General Motors on the sale of carmaker Opel would take some time yet and made clear it still favored a bid from Canadian supplier Magna.
• EU clears Lufthansa's Austrian Airlines takeover FRANKFURT -- German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Friday the European Commission has approved its takeover of Austrian Airlines Group, allowing it start integrating the company in September.
• Ford exec sees US auto sales rising in August NEW YORK -- A top Ford executive expects industrywide U.S. auto sales to rise for the first time in more than two years this month, thanks largely to the government's Cash for Clunkers program.
• Automakers see Aug. sales jump; hangover to come NEW YORK -- Automakers are partying, even though they know the hangover is coming.

Aviation Industry

• NATS Delivers World-First in Control TowersNATS Services Ltd designs and builds the world™s first licensed virtual airport control tower.
• Robot Airport Taxis for London Heathrow: Airport NewsElectric robot pods are to become part of the near-future transport architecture at London Heathrow Airport, providing a service to passengers needing to move around the hub. UK firm Advanced Transport Systems is the manufacturer of these robot pods, which make up the Ultra PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) system. They look incredible but they also, crucially, offer a taxi-type service with a low emissions profile. This service will initially be exclusively for passengers travelling into or out of Heathrow Airport on business class services. Ultra PRT's legacy stretches back four years to 2005, wh...
• EU clears Lufthansa's Austrian Airlines takeoverGerman airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Friday the European Commission has approved its takeover of Austrian Airlines Group, allowing it start integrating the company in September.
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• Lufthansa wins Austrian approvalAustrian to axe vice presidents read more
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Other News Sources

• Newcastle gets new routes from Jet2From May 2010, Jet2 will launch new services to Dalaman, Crete, Gran Canaria, Paphos and Sharm el Sheikh from Newcastle Airport. It is hoped that the expansion of Jet2 will help to create 450 new local jobs. Jet2 is becoming increasingly popular and many people enjoy flying with them. They offer fantastic leisure holidays with low fares [...]
• Disney starts construction of two new cruise ships Disney Cruise Line has started construction of the first of two new ships that will more than double its capacity. The keel for the 128,000-ton Disney...
• Southampton Port offers free bus tours to celebrate nine cruise ship visits Southampton port is offering free open-top bus tours to visitors this Saturday and Sunday to celebrate a record nine cruise ship visits in just 48 hours. More...
• Lack of credit will hamper trailer take-upThe fall in available business credit will limit the take-up of longer semi-trailers, even if the government approves their use, according to the Road Haulage Association (RHA). Because the credit crunch has cut bank lending it will make investment in these trailers by smaller hauliers very difficult, says Ray Engley, head of technical services with the RHA. He adds:
• One in five haulage firms making a lossA fifth of haulage and logistic businesses are making a loss, and profitability continues to be in steep decline, according to two separate surveys on the perilous state of cash flow within the road transport industry.
• Network Rail to revamp maintenance
• JLP trials aerodynamic podRetailer John Lewis Partnership (JLP) says it will not be rushing to copy its rival M&S by investing in aerodynamic trailers, as it has yet to be convinced by the effectiveness and benefits of the design.
• Piraeus perks upPIRAEUS Port Authority has announced a 32% increase in profits for the first half of 2009.
• Lufthansa deal gets all-clear from EUEuropean Commission says Lufthansa has addressed competition concerns raised by merger with Austrian Airlines.
• Cut Your Engine and Cut Pollution This Bank HolidayQueuing drivers asked to turn of engines to help reduce air and noise pollution.
• EU State aid: Commission approves the restructuring of Austrian AirlinesThe Commission has today decided to close the formal investigation procedure into the privatisation and restructuring of Austrian Airlines concluding that the restructuring following its sale to Lufthansa is compatible with community law.
• Teenage sailor told homework comes firstA court has stopped a 13-year-old Dutch girl's attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the globe. But are they protecting her well-being or being too intrusive? Watch Jenny Wivell's report.
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