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

Monday, 16 November 2009

BBC News

• 'Lowest' annual train fare rise Train fares are to rise by the lowest rate since rail privatisation in the mid-1990s, the Association of Train Operating Companies has said.
• Superfast train set for departure [video]They have got it in France; they have got it in Spain - thousands of miles of high-speed rail connecting cities like Paris and Lyon, Madrid and Seville. In Britain, we have got just 68 miles of high-speed track - and that is only to stop the Eurostar juddering to an embarrassing jog as it leaves the Channel Tunnel on its way to London.
• East Coast becomes nationalised expressThe east coast rail franchise is just the latest acquisition by the government since the financial crisis, which has also seen the state nationalise a number of the UK's largest banks.
• Park to go down electric avenueAn electric car, which will be used for community transport in the Cairngorms National Park, has been unveiled.
• Dublin train 'back on track'The Enterprise train service from Belfast to Dublin is due to return to normal today following weeks of repairs after the track collapsed into the sea
• New park-and-ride is set to openA new park-and-ride site for a Somerset town is due to open. The site for the Taunton scheme is on the A358, just off junction 25 of the M5, and opens on Monday.
• Park-and-ride service to commenceA park-and-ride bus service at Enderby in Leicester is to start running on Monday. Single-decker buses will run from the £9.2m site, which boasts 1,000 car parking spaces, to Leicester city centre from 0700 to 1900 GMT.
• Two buses replace bendy bus routeThe number 38 bendy bus has been withdrawn from London's roads, the third such bus to be replaced. The Victoria to Clapton Pond route will be serviced by two double deck buses - between Victoria and Hackney Central and from Hackney to Clapton Pond.
• Speeding bulletIs Britain set to join the high-speed rail revolution?
• Rolls-Royce in $2bn engine ordersUK engineering firm Rolls-Royce wins orders to supply jet aircraft engines to Air China and to Ethiopian Airlines.
• Weaker dollar hits Airbus ownerEuropean aerospace giant EADS, the owner of Airbus, reports a quarterly loss of 87m euros as the weak dollar hits its results.
• BA strike ballot papers sent outThe Unite union is to ballot British Airways workers on strike action, although a legal challenge to new schedules is still in the courts.

Financial Times

• Rail chief urges caution on competitionThe chairman of Spain’s state-owned train operator has argued strongly for the company to retain its monopoly over many aspects of train operation as it recovers from recession and non-payment of promised government subsidies.

The Guardian

• No to Boris's estuary airportBoris Johnson has a grim vision for Kent and Medway. Seemingly, he wants to blight the area with 24-hour flights, increased noise and air pollution and by destroying some of the UK's most important wildlife reserves. It is a vision I want to ensure doesn't become a reality.
• State-owned rail franchise East Coast will raise some fares by 5%The government-owned East Coast franchise is to raise some fares by an inflation-busting 5%, setting a benchmark as its privately-controlled rivals prepare to lift their prices in the New Year.
• Now we can hear electric cars comingHALOsonic technology makes electric vehicles sound more like spaceships or sports cars - which should make roads safer for people with visual impairmentsIs this what a spaceship sounds like? I'd imagined something a bit more whooshy, a bit more Millennium Falcon. These stately tones are more

The Independent

• Dutch first in Europe to adopt green tax for carsThe Dutch government is to become the first country in Europe to introduce a green tax to replace annual road tax on cars.

The Telegraph

• Cost of driving a car up 11pc since 2007Increased insurance premiums and rising motoring taxes mean the annual cost of running a car has risen by 11% since 2007, research suggests.
• Congestion increased last monthCongestion on major roads increased 11 per cent last month compared with October 2008 according to figures today from Trafficmaster.

Times Online

• Union provides BA staff with link to solicitors as airline brings in new work practicesBritish Airways staff have been urged to contact employment solicitors hired by Unite, their union, as new working practices come into force within the airline today.
• Shipping groups push up rates to cash in on Christmas tradingBritish business will be hit with a wave of price rises for parcels and freight before Christmas that is likely to continue into the new year.

Press Association

• Adonis' confident over rail link Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has insisted that a new high speed rail line would connect all major conurbations but added that it could not be "done in one go".

Reuters News

• Thameslink may face £750 million in cutbacks - reportThe Thameslink rail programme may face 750 million pounds of cutbacks, with possible knock-on effects for Crossrail as the government prepares to tighten its belt, according to a report in the Observer.

The Mirror

• Fury over eight-fold increase in rail faresMillions of passengers face a Christmas fares "rip-off" after Virgin Trains hiked its advance tickets by EIGHT TIMES their original advertised price. West coast route giant Virgin has boasted its advance single fares will give passengers the "cheapest rates" over the holiday.

Bolton News

• Have your say on improving train stationsRESIDENTS are being urged to have their say on how railway stations in Bolton can be improved. In the next five years, Network Rail will invest more than £3.25 billion on stations across the UK.

London Evening Standard

• Rail fares to rise by 5% but peak tickets may be cut or frozenHundreds of thousands of rail passengers face fare rises of up to five per cent from January, ministers will confirm today.

Nottingham Evening Post

• High-speed railway could stop at NottinghamA HIGH-SPEED railway line connecting London to Scotland could go through Nottingham, it was revealed today.

The York Press

• Transport secretary Lord Adonis visits York as East Coast rail line is nationalised THE arrival of transport secretary Lord Adonis at York Station heralded the start of a new era for the East Coast main line as the Government took over the running of the route from National Express.

Yorkshire Post

• Station protesters to lobby meeting A PROTEST will be held outside Sheffield Town Hall prior to a planning board meeting at which the application for controversial ticket barriers at the city's railway station will be decided.
• Minister repeats high-speed rail pledge to region's communities Transport boss Lord Adonis has once again moved to reassure rail passengers that a high speed network will not by-pass Yorkshire as business leaders called for a political consensus on the policy.
• Watershed for East Coast line marked TRANSPORT Secretary Lord Adonis travelled to Yorkshire at the weekend to mark the launch of a Government firm to oversee the troubled East Coast main line. A company set up by the Department for Transport, Directly Operated Rail (DOR), took control of the line from National Express on Friday night, and Lord Adonis opted to gain first-hand experience of the new venture.

Railnews

• Passengers quizzed about their priorities, as East Coast returns to public ownershipThe East Coast Main Line intercity service is now being run by the state for the first time since 1996, but the Transport Secretary has been told that his plans to re-franchise the route within two years are too hasty.

Other News Sources

• Runway pledge given by key Tory MP An influential Tory MP has said a Conservative government would say no to a new runway at Gatwick. The Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) said Horsham MP Francis Maude made the pledge at its annual meeting. Mr Maude is the man in charge of implementing the next Conservative manifesto.
• Meet The Train Makers, Part 5: SiemensIt is indicative of the incredible safety record of high-speed rail that over the course of more than forty years of operation in countries around the world, there has only been one major crash. Unfortunately for Siemens, the primary producer of Germany’s fast trains, that accident was of an ICE train, and it happened in Lower Saxony.
• TRAIN COMPANIES CONFIRM LOWEST FARE RISE SINCE PRIVATISATION Rail fares will rise by an average of 1.1% in January, well below the expected rate of inflation next year and the lowest increase since privatisation, according to analysis released today. The figure, published by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), when applied to the current average price paid for a single rail journey, would mean the average cost of a train journey will rise by 6p in January from £5.05 to £5.11.
• Chamber calls for high speed rail GREATER Manchester Chamber has joined forces with chambers across the UK to call for a high speed rail (HSR) network.
• Rail passengers asked views on £10m revamp of Leicester station A total of £10m is to be spent improving Leicester's railway station in the next five years. Network Rail has not specified how it will spend the cash but money is expected to be used to go towards revamping lifts, waiting rooms, toilets, ticket offices, lighting, CCTV and new passenger information systems.
• We need to clear the roads, says bus boss BUS bosses say they need help to escape a vicious circle of price hikes and dwindling passenger numbers if they are to be a key part of Calderdale's transport future.
• Leeds Bradford the only airport in the UK to expand next yearLeeds-Bradford International airport will most likely be the only UK airport to expand next year, according to the airport’s chief executive John Parkin, as the travel industry still reels in the impact of the global recession.
• Flintshire town residents back call for railway station AN MP has backed a campaign to provide Saltney with a railway station for the first time since the 1960s. Nearly 300 people have joined a group on the popular website Facebook called ’We want a train stop in Saltney’, and they have now been supported by Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami.
• Rail users to be quizzed on improvementsPLYMOUTH Rail Station users are asked to take part in a survey about what is important to them and where they would like to see investment. Network Rail has launched the first ever passenger research survey targeting stations, and plans to improve thousands of stations across the country over five years.

News from Europe

• Puy-de-Dôme rack railway trains orderedFRANCE: Stadler Rail has announced a SFr25m order to supply four articulated electric multiple-units for the 5·3 km rack railway which SNC-Lavalin is building on the Puy-de-Dôme in the Massif Central.