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

Sunday, 30 August 2009

BBC News

• Rail users warned about delays Travellers on the West Coast Mainline over the holiday weekend face delays due to engineering work between London and Birmingham.

The Herald

• Bus monopoly probe disappoints SouterBrian Souter, the co-founder and chief executive of Perth-based bus and rail giant Stagecoach, has expressed “disappointment” at the launch of a major inquiry by the Competition Commission into whether local monopolies were forcing up bus fares.

The Observer

• Proposed reprieve for shuttle from USBritain's first astronaut hopes Obama will keep spacecraft flying for another five yearsThe US space shuttle, scheduled to be scrapped next year, could be thrown a last-minute lifeline this week. A reprieve is to be included as an option for rejuvenating America's beleaguered space programme in a report commissioned by President Barack Obama.Only seven more flights have been earmarked for the shuttle, the most complicated machine ever flown. In the wake of the Challenger and Columbia disasters, and soaring launch costs, the spacecraft was deemed to be too dangerous and too expensive to fly.But...

The Scotsman

• Fuel duty due to rise by 2p a litreMotorists already facing rising pump prices will be hit by another Government fuel duty increase this week.

Times Online

• Aer Lingus pilots paid €300,000 A group of 66 Aer Lingus pilots are earning almost €20m a year, an average of €300,000 each in salaries and financial perks. They are also entitled to a “gold-plated” pension fund, to which the company is contributing 21% of salary each year.
• Why we are all climate camp followers nowIt is the Thursday morning rush hour in Blackheath, southeast London. The roads around the park are clogged with commuters, and, overhead, planes are ascending from nearby City airport at an alarming rate.
• G20 fears oil price may derail recoveryFinance ministers and central bankers of the G20 countries, who meet in London this week, will celebrate signs that the worst of the recession is over and that upturns have begun in some countries.
• 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...
• Be one of the first to drive a Mini E This week Mini is launching a search to find 20 British motorists to drive an all-electric Mini for six months. As of Tuesday, September 1, drivers can apply online to take part in the UK trial, allowing them to lease a Mini E for £330 a month (it was to be £550 a month but, because the government is part-funding the trial, Mini has been able to considerably reduce the fee). To apply, you’ll need to have a garage, car port or private driveway and live within the trial zone, which is confined to an area west of London (roughly south of the M40, east of the A34 a...
• The Andrew Davidson interview: Biggest is best for cruise chiefThese are the questions you like to be asked. œHave you cruised? enquires Richard Fain, a burly American who seems to chew each word gruffly as he speaks. Never. œThat™s a terrible thing, he continues with a sly grin. œBut you know, it™s also a great opportunity. If you had done it, you wouldn™t have so much to look forward to.
• Lufthansa jettisons BMI British Midland directorsThe new owners at BMI British Midland have begun a management shake-up at the airline with the departure of two senior executives.

Daily Express

• Car parts maker in jeopardyAUDITORS have raised fears about the future of British car parts manufacturer TI Automotive, due to its high debt levels and the global recession.

Mail Online

• And this is us having a stroll along the M5: Motorway misery starts early for the great Bank Holiday getaway
• 'Green' car sales boom, but put a brake on a loan direct from the dealer

The Mirror

• Fuel duty due to rise by 2p a litreMotorists already facing rising pump prices will be hit by another Government fuel duty increase this week.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Welsh roads not safe, say women cyclistsWOMEN don’t believe that Welsh roads are safe enough for them to cycle on.

Metro

• Road jams as Britons head for beachTravellers have jammed roads bound for the coast on the first full day of the Bank Holiday weekend.
• Fuel duty due to rise by 2p a litreMotorists already facing rising pump prices will be hit by another Government fuel duty increase this week.

The News (Portsmouth)

• Green campaigner not happy as his £300 bike is pinchedThe head of a green charity that promotes cycling has had his bike stolen.
• Action urged to improve safety at crash cornerSpeed signs could be introduced on a sharp corner where a car veered off the road and crashed through a pensioner's home.

The York Press

• Fresh calls for safety work on A64 ROAD chiefs today stressed they had spent more than £6 million last year on maintenance and improvements to the A64 after fresh calls were made for the road to be upgraded.
• Jobs threat for 350 rail workers in York AROUND 350 workers in York face job uncertainty with the news that Network Rail wants to cut 1,800 jobs nationally.
• Safety drive at A19 blackspot near Deighton village POLICE and firefighters have launched a crackdown on dangerous driving at a village where residents are demanding a safe road crossing.

The Shields Gazette

• Business as usual after port blazePORT bosses said it was "business as usual" after a major fire there earlier this week.
• Anger over painted-on road humpsCOUNCIL bosses have unveiled their latest weapon to crack down on speeding drivers “ painted-on speed humps.
• Second bus strike loomsBUS passengers are set for a second day of disruption on Tuesday as drivers threaten to stage another strike.

Washington Post

• GM China, China's FAW launch joint venture SHANGHAI -- General Motors China and state-owned automaker FAW Group Corp. launched a 2 billion yuan ($293 million) joint venture Sunday to make light-duty trucks and vans, initially for the fast-growing Chinese market.

Other News Sources

• Fuel duty due to rise by 2p a litreFuel duty due to rise by 2p a litre