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

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

BBC News

• School bus safety meeting planned A meeting on improving school bus safety is to be held, a year after two pupils died after stepping off buses in Aberdeenshire.
• Rail station plan for Stratford Plans for a new £6.5m railway station for Stratford-upon-Avon have been put forward.
• Rail changes 'neglect' commuters Rail passengers in south-east London have said they feel "totally neglected" by plans to reduce a commuter service. From December trains from Forest Hill station will no longer stop at Charing Cross and in May they will be cut from six trains per hour to four per hour.
• Trains in Spain signal the future The 0830 service from Madrid to Barcelona departs promptly and without fuss. With no lengthy check-in queues, and a slick security control, many passengers had turned up at the Spanish capital's Atocha rail terminal at the last minute, safe in the knowledge that they would still catch their train.
• Timetable changed at short notice Bus users in Cornwall have been given less than a week to familiarise themselves with timetable changes to bus services across the county.
• Games lanes 'may slow ambulances' Road lanes reserved for Olympic athletes and officials during the 2012 Games could slow ambulances and increase congestion, police have said.
• Carfree Day in Jersey in 2010 Jersey will have a car free day next year, the island's transport minister announced on World Carfree Day.
• Bridge payout measures 'standard' Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson has attempted to allay concerns over a planned compensation scheme for firms vying to build the new Forth bridge.
• Airlines plan 'to cut emissions'The aviation industry is to pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to half the 2005 levels by 2050.
• Peston's picksThe market price of cutting airline emissions

The Guardian

• Gordon Brown signals commitment to high speed rail Prime minister counters Tory policy with plan to emulate Victorian legacy of investment. Gordon Brown will this weekend give his strongest backing to high speed rail, paving the way for Labour to make a general election manifesto commitment to deliver a transformation of Britain's railways.

The Herald

• Transport minister under pressure over Garl cancellation Transport Secretary Stewart Stevenson is facing further scrutiny over his role in cancelling the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (Garl) amid claims that his officials drew up secret plans to ditch the project in the spring.

The Independent

• Brown backs high-speed rail vision Gordon Brown has given the strongest indication yet that Labour will back plans to build a multibillion-pound high-speed rail line to the Midlands after admitting that the Government needed to "move further, faster" in adopting the technology.
• Brown backs high-speed rail visionGordon Brown has given the strongest indication yet that Labour will back plans to build a multibillion-pound high-speed rail line to the Midlands after admitting that the Government needed to

The Telegraph

• Car crash free future unveiled in Stockholm The car of the future will be impossible to crash, capable of "speaking" to other vehicles and be in constant contact with overhead satellites and roadside sensors.
• Are we in danger of forgetting how to drive?A Stockholm transport congress has been told of an array of safety initiviates designed to make driving less dangerous.

Network Rail

• AIRDRIE-BATHGATE RAIL LINK PROJECT UPDATE: 22 SEPTEMBER 2009

Transport Briefing

• Southern rail franchise starts second term Southern, the rail operation run by GoVia partners Go-Ahead and Keolis, has begun a second franchise term following the Department for Transport's decision earlier this year to retain GoVia as the holder of the South Central rail franchise (TB 5981) (TB 5982) (TB 5983).
• Lib Dem conference backs longer rail franchises Delegates attending the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth have backed a motion calling on the government to introduce longer rail franchises that would encourage train operators to invest in new infrastructure.

Journal Live

• Airports back The Journal's tax campaignTHE region's two airports today backed The Journal's A Tax Too Far campaign. Air Passenger Duty (APD) is set to rise twice in the next 14 months, which will have a knock-on effect on the price of flight tickets.

London Evening Standard

• BA leads airlines pledge to halve emissionsThe airline industry will today pledge to cut emissions by half - a move that is certain to drive up fares. British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh will tell the United Nations climate change summit in New York that airlines, airports and plane manufacturers have offered to cut carbon dioxide by 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2050.
• Barack Obama ambassador snubs Boris Johnson over embassy’s £3m C-charge bill America's new ambassador to London today snubbed Boris Johnson's call to pay a backlog of £3 million in unpaid congestion charges and fines for non-payment.
• The next station is archery: 2012 Tube map shows events A NEW Tube map will show the locations of Olympic sporting events. The Mayor wants visitors to the 2012 Games to be able to identify easily the correct stop for different events. Relevant stations could either be indicated by the Olympic rings symbol or the symbol for each sport.

Manchester Evening News

• Tram chiefs 'knew tracks were beyond repair'TRANSPORT chiefs allowed Metrolink trams to run on tracks they knew were beyond repair before a speeding tram was derailed, an accident report says. Three passengers were hurt when the Piccadilly-bound tram left the rails on Mosley Street and hit poles carrying power lines on June 29 last year.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Businesses to set up fighting fund against WPL BUSINESSES in Nottingham are being asked whether they will contribute to a fighting fund to mount a legal challenge against the Workplace Parking Levy.
• Transport revolution must happen in 10 years The chief executive of the Energy Technologies Institute at Loughborough, Dr David Clarke, says the world will have to go through a transport revolution to tackle global warming.

The News (Portsmouth)

• Green car scheme extended in PortsmouthA green scheme to provide city council staff with low-emission pool cars is set to be extended.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• MP will chair road summit on tightening safety laws Politicians, safety campaigners and transport officials will meet in Aberdeenshire today to draw up new safety proposals to protect children travelling to school.

Wales Online

• Opik’s rail nationalisation bid fails A bid to commit the Liberal Democrats to look at re-nationalising the rail network was narrowly rejected by party activists yesterday. The plan was put forward by Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik, who said there been a “litany of failures” since privatisation in 1996.
• Park shuns public transport for ’green’ meeting delegates AN AUTHORITY which urges people to use public transport to visit Snowdonia has decided the same buses and trains are unsuitable for its guests at a UK conference.

Yorkshire Post

• Work starting on final phase of £500,000 waterway renovation A Lock on Yorkshire's principal freight waterway, which carries around 700,000 tonnes of goods a year, is undergoing essential repair works.
• Jonathan Reed: Electrifying news has rail chiefs backtracking HOLD the front page – Manchester to Leeds rail journeys are about to become a whole lot quicker, and more reliable, thanks to news that the line is about to be electrified. That was the news from Network Rail at a conference fringe meeting in a Bournemouth hotel this week
• Tensions grow as transport upgrades miss out Yorkshire BUSINESS leaders fear Yorkshire is being left behind on transport improvements while upgrades are targeted across the Pennines. Network Rail is drawing up plans for a massive package of rail improvements around Manchester which experts say could benefit the rest of the North.

Washington Post

• My Road to Smoother Transportation in Virginia The first job of the next governor of Virginia is to restore confidence in our economy, and the best way to do that is through fixing our state transportation system.
• The Deadly Silence of the Electric Car After years of trying to make cars sound as if they were riding on air, engineers are considering how they might bring back some noise. They're trying to make some of them -- those silent hybrids -- more audible.

Other News Sources

• Leaders call to get Back To Business Business leaders want transport improvements, including putting trans-Pennine and north-south high-speed rail lines, a shift in power from Whitehall to local areas and a continued commitment to reduce the gap in growth rates between the north and south.
• Carriages to double on high speed train The new high-speed rail service has proved so popular with passengers that the number of carriages on one of the peak time trains has been doubled.
• Bid for new £25 million city rail station COUNCIL chiefs are pushing for a new £25 million railway station for Cambridge within three years. Officials at Cambridgeshire County Council plan to ask the Government to fund the scheme at Chesterton as stage one of £500 million worth of transport improvements, including better facilities for cyclists and bus users.
• Park-and-ride fares to rise – and buses cut Commuters using the Winnersh park- and-ride will see the number of buses reduced from six to four and fares increased by more than 16 per cent under cost-cutting plans.
• Bus scheme unveiled HIGHWAYS bosses today unveil details of a new £3.2 million bus lane system planned for the west side of Worcester, insisting it will not slow down other motorists. A public consultation is being launched on the new scheme planned for the A44 Bromyard Road, which aims to improve journeys between the Crown East roundabout and Worcester bridge for bus users, cyclists and pedestrians.
• BA throws out hot towels to cut costsBritish Airways passengers have been wondering over the past few weeks where the soothing hot towels have gone on the carrier's short-haul business class flights
• Maritime unveils healthy 2008 accounts but warns this year will be challengingContainer specialist Maritime Transport has unveiled a strong set of figures in its 2008 accounts with turnover rising by a quarter. However, it cautions that profitability this year will effectively be
• Operators misled into using low cost trainingOperators are being misled into using low quality HGV driver training because there is no nationally recognised accreditation scheme for training companies, according to Sean Pargeter, director of EP Training Services.
• Bombardier opts for tiller steering for Learjet 85 Bombardier has decided to incorporate several new features in the Learjet 85 as it works on finalising a design for the all-composite midsize jet ahead of...
• PwC blesses Hamburg schemeGERMAN shipping banks and shipowners may be able to avoid crippling asset writedowns following approval of the new Hamburg Ship Evaluation Standard by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Other Subscription Services

• Hamburg ship valuation formula adds up, says PwCSHIP valuation standard now fulfils the strict standards of German auditors™ association.ƒ