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

Monday, 30 November 2009

BBC News

• New departure lounge at airport A new departure lounge has opened at the George Best Belfast City Airport. The refurbishment is creating 20 jobs through an increase of 60% in retail and restaurant space and is part of a £6m investment in the terminal.
• City railway tunnel work begins Southampton train passengers are facing disruption from Monday as work begins to increase the height of the railway tunnel beneath the city.

Financial Times

• National Express*s way If only the Spanish Armada had managed such a harmonious ending. The 21st-century assault on British trains and buses * surely as much a part of the domestic psyche today as sovereignty in the 16th century * yesterday ended with National Express declaring victory over Spain*s Cosmen family. But the bus and rail operator*s big shareholders, far from taking umbrage at failing spectacularly to scupper the proposed rights issue, pledged support to their (former) adversary. The feeling is mutual. John Devaney, chairman of National Express, insisted a day earlier that Jorge Cosmen * who also serves as deputy chairman * was an *asset* to the company. Requesting his resignation, he added, was out of the question.
• Terror probe after Russian train crash Russian authorities have begun a criminal investigation into a suspected terrorist bomb attack that derailed a luxury train en route from Moscow to St Petersburg on Friday night, killing at least 26 and injuring around 100. The death toll might be as high as 39, according to the authorities.
• A journey of management change for Indian Railways In 2006, Vandana Singhal made a small discovery while at a railway station in France. She noticed that the stone edging on the platform was rougher than the stone elsewhere. Passengers, she observed, were far less likely to slip as they stepped off the train.

The Guardian

• Simple plan 'means no need for third Heathrow runway' A bitterly contested third runway at Heathrow can be avoided if airlines adopt a new landing approach involving thousands more night flights per year, according to a proposal by one of the airport's fastest growing carriers.
• Blood, Iron & Gold by Christian Wolmar A riveting history examines the human cost of the railways' rapid and ramshackle 19th-century expansion, writes Matthew Engel. In the depths of last winter, I had to get back home by train and plane from St Moritz via Zurich, after two feet of snow had fallen in the Alpine valleys and a few inches in south-east England. You probably imagine that this story ends with the Swiss train being bang on time...
• Ship that mistook itself for a cityIt carries more than 8,000 people, has an on-board park and themed bars from all over the globe. But one experience you don't get on board Oasis of the Seas is that of being at seaWilliam Morris called ocean liners

Times Online

• Whitehall hid evidence on Heathrow expansion THE government colluded with the airports operator BAA to skew evidence in favour of expanding Heathrow and play down facts that could help opponents, secret documents indicate. The government was so concerned about the content of internal emails and memos about Heathrow expansion that it spent 18 months trying to prevent them being revealed. They were obtained only after Justine Greening, Tory MP for Putney, complained to the freedom of information watchdog.
• Flybe lifts off in £300m stock market float Flybe, the regional airline, is preparing for a stock market flotation that will bring a windfall for its staff and shareholders. The Exeter-based company, which has twice shelved float plans, is expected to be valued at about £300m. Merrill Lynch, the airline’s long-standing adviser, has been instructed to prepare for a listing next year.
• KLM biofuel flight fuels hopes for green airlines Airlines have high hopes for a new range of biofuels. At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport last Monday a gaggle of aviation executives, politicians and journalists trooped aboard a KLM jumbo jet for a flight to nowhere. The trip was uneventful — the plane and its 40 occupants circled above Holland for a couple of hours before landing where it took off. However, in a small way, it was historic. It was the first flight by a biofuel-powered airliner to carry passengers.
• Gatwick buyer sends ˜black-belt™ squad to fix woesGatwick™s new owners are expected to promise the elimination of long security and check-in queues when they take control of Britain™s second-largest airport this week Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is buying Gatwick from BAA for £1.5 billion. The deal should be completed on Thursday or Friday, subject to European Commission approval.
• Britain™s tourist industry is in need of a breakWith the recession in full swing, many more Britons holidayed in the UK than abroad this year, many of us staying in self-catering accommodation. Yet all that could change.

Reuters News

• India's Tata says plans Nano hybrid carsIndia's Tata Group is planning to produce hybrid versions of its Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, to join in the environment-friendly trend, its chairman said in an interview with a South Korean newspaper. The Maeil Business Newspaper on Monday quoted Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, as saying in Mumbai that low-priced goods would create stronger demand than high-end products in India, and the so-called low-price revolution would continue across the world.

Mail Online

• Christmas train chaos as rail works to shut five out of seven main routesTens of thousands of train passengers face serious delays over Christmas and New Year when five of Britain's seven main rail routes will be severed by engineering work. Network Rail is planning to close parts of Britain's busiest lines for up to two weeks.
• Train station staff refuse to carry baby buggy up stairs for new mother because they're not insured

Carlisle News & Star

• Free shuttle train between Workington and MaryportA new free hourly train service will start tomorrow, thanks to Government funding for the lease of an extra train.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Travel delays after train hits bodyPassengers on a busy commuter rail route saw their travel plans thrown into chaos after a body was hit by a train at a level crossing near Peterborough.

Railnews

• New station opens to aid flood-hit Cumbrian town A new station is opening on the Cumbrian Coast line today, so that trains can link the two halves of Workington which have been separated by the disastrous floods in the region.
• News: New station opens to aid flood-hit Cumbrian town A new station is opening on the Cumbrian Coast line today, so that trains can link the two halves of Workington which have been separated by the disastrous floods in the region.

Aviation Industry

• Continental tops airline food surveyAirline food. No, that's not the punchline to a joke. Air carriers serve meals, and where there's food, there can't be a restaurant critic too far behind.
• Ryanair boss still eyes Aer Lingus takeover as legacyMichael O'Leary, the outspoken chief executive of budget airline Ryanair, has said he expects to stand down within the next

Other News Sources

• Drive faster: speed limits could go up SPEED limits on some of Worcestershire’s roads could be increased – in a bid to make them safer. A review into the possibility of speed limits being lowered or raised on some of the county’s A and B roads has been met with approval by road safety experts. But Worcestershire County Council, which is responsible for roads and is currently undertaking a speed management review, said it would only ever increase road speeds after extensive investigations and a full consultation with local communities in affected areas.
• The path towards sustainability in road buildingLegislative and economic pressures are driving the road building sector towards more energy efficient and environmentally friendly machines and processes. Steve Skinner reports on the path towards sustainability. When it comes into effect in 2011, Tier 4 Interim/Stage IIIB exhaust emissions legislation in the US and Europe respectively will lead to a new generation of road building equipment.
• Rail industry gets it together - but why not all the time: Christian WolmarThe coordination to get a rail service between the two halves of Workington cut off by the flood has been a tribute to the rail industry. Given that it involved Network Rail building a new station and Northern having to provide extra train services, the speed with which it has been carried through is nothing short of miraculous.
• Eurostar timetable for Christmas and New Year PASSENGERS travelling between the UK and France on the Eurostar service during the Christmas and new year period will experience some changes to the timetable. The train operator has said there will be no services operating on Christmas day, with trains stopping earlier on Christmas Eve and on New Year’s Eve and starting later on January 1.
• LONDON: National Rail Oyster card revolution will go ahead in January IT HAS been announced that pay-as-you-go Oyster cards can be used on National Rail trains through the borough from January. Mayor of London Boris Johnson says the changes will take effect on January 2 and provide “seamless” travel through the capital.
• St Albans Abbey Station praised for high level of security St Albans Abbey Station - which runs London Midland services into London - has been presented with an award celebrating its high levels of security following a £225,000 upgrade this year.
• Station opens in flood-hit town A temporary railway station built in six days to help reunite a Cumbrian town devastated by the recent floods has opened. Five hundred people were drafted in to build Workington North station on the north side of the River Derwent after several bridges in the area were lost in torrential rivers just over a week ago.
• China may be next Desiro customer CHINA: Working in partnership with a local company, Siemens Mobility is hoping to secure an order for around 50 suburban trainsets in Guangzhou, having tendered a version of its Desiro product platform.
• Fares to be slashed for Oyster card pay-as-you-go holders Rail fares will be slashed next year as Oyster pay-as-you-go customers get to finally use touch-in machines at the borough's rail stations. From January 2, rail passengers with this type of card won't have to buy separate tickets for the tube, bus or tram. They can simply touch-in at their departing station, using their pre-paid cards and will now be able to touch-out at every London station as the scheme is rolled-out across the capital.
• Rail travellers face six weeks of disruption SIX weeks of disruption to train services through Southampton will begin on Monday night. The Victorian tunnel at Southampton central station will be shut for work to allow “supersized” freight containers from the docks to pass through. Closures will take place overnight from 11.15pm to 5.45am on weekdays with complete closures on weekends and from Christmas Day to January 4.
• Haulage to Europe continues to fallFigures from the Department for Transport show the number of goods vehicles travelling from the UK to mainland Europe continue to fall, down 13% in the third quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year.