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

Wednesday, 02 December 2009

Financial Times

• Maersk chief signals a change in directionThe owner of the world's largest container shipping line identifies three areas outside its core shipping interests as the priority for future investments
• Eurotunnel buys rail freight businessThe company that runs the Channel tunnel between France and England is to become one of France's biggest rail freight operators after its acquisition of Veolia Transport's French operations

The Scotsman

• Iran releases UK sailors - reportsThe Foreign Office is examining reports that five British sailors captured in Iranian waters last Wednesday have been released.

Times Online

• Police put the brakes on superlorry’s first road test It was hardly The Dukes of Hazzard. The 74-year-old outlaw trucker donned his bifocal driving glasses, adjusted his panama hat and made a break for the highway.
• Gordon Brown's 'eco town' vision quietly shelvedGordon Brown™s vision of establishing distinct œeco towns across the country has been quietly shelved, it emerged today.
• Rail passengers face chaos over Christmas period due to engineering worksPassengers hoping to travel from Liverpool St to Stansted Airport and East Anglia will bear the brunt of railway closures planned for the Christmas holiday period, the rail industry announced yesterday.

Reuters News

• London commuters LONDON (Reuters) - London's underground train system suffers from so much overcrowding that passengers have to
• UK facing hung parliament next year - opinion pollLONDON (Reuters) - Britain could be heading for a hung parliament next year because support for the Conservatives may not be enough to secure the party an overall majority, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday.

The Mirror

• Lord Ashcroft's poverty pay to train workersTrain cleaners on the London-Glasgow Virgin route struck twice at the weekend.
• Tory raps 'crippling' green targetsA senior Tory has attacked the "fixation" of the green movement with imposing ever tougher targets for reducing carbon emissions, with potentially "crippling" costs for the economy.

Journal Live

• Nexus urged to provide more bus and Metro services over ChristmasPUBLIC transport operators are failing to promote a car-free message over the Christmas and New Year period, it has been claimed.

London Evening Standard

• Car scrappage deal is parked by MandelsonLord Mandelson's successful car scrappage scheme will reach the end of its road in next week's pre-Budget report, Whitehall sources said today. With 270,000 new car and van orders credited to the subsidies, it will end when the funds of £400million are exhausted. Drivers can claim £2,000 off a new vehicle if they scrap a 10-year-old car. The scheme has been lengthened once, but a source said: "It will not be extended again next week."

Yorkshire Evening Post

• A1 West Yorkshire: Transport minister opens road after £71m upgradeA plaque has been unveiled on the A1 in West Yorkshire to mark the completion of a £71m upgrade.

Yorkshire Post

• Colin Bamford: How passengers pay the price for privatised railways When National Express walked away from running the East Coast Main Line – Yorkshire's vital transport link with London and the South East –the service was instantly and seamlessly taken over by a Government-owned operation. Named simply East Coast, its logos and badges replaced those of National Express over the course of a weekend, although I was amused by the fact that a train guard had to correct himself and name the new company while welcoming passengers over the intercom.

Sunderland Echo

• Nexus urged to ease Christmas congestionFresh calls have come to increase public transport to encourage drivers to have a car-free Christmas.

The Shields Gazette

• Blitz on motor menacesPOLICE have put the brakes on more than 100 illegal bikers and boy racers.

Forbes

• Can GM Find A Better Man For The Job?Pay caps, government oversight could scare away top-level talent to replace outgoing CEO Fritz Henderson.

International Herald Tribune

• In Denmark, Ambitious Plan for Electric CarsA big tax break may draw buyers, but it is not certain they can be persuaded to make the switch.
• Reports Say Iran Has Freed 5 British SailorsIran released five sailors who had been detained after their racing yacht apparently drifted into Iranian waters, according to Iranian news reports.

Washington Post

• GM's U.S.-appointed chief resigns after eight months General Motors chief executive Fritz Henderson resigned unexpectedly Tuesday from the government-owned company, once again unsettling the ranks at the nation's largest automaker as it struggles to right itself after bankruptcy.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Call for further action on aircraft CO2 emissionsGreater work is required to reduce the growing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by aircraft in the UK, it has been claimed.Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (HACAN) spokesperson John Stewart stated the aviation sector should explore the possibility of "reducing the number of planes in the sky"."More needs to be done both in developing cleaner planes," he declared, adding there is a role for the government to play and "airport expansion should be brought to an end" in order to reduce emissions.According to Mr Stew...

Railnews

• News: Tube overcrowding causing increasing stress, report warns A new report is claiming that overcrowding on the London Underground has reached such levels that passengers are having to nerve themselves to use the service. The Underground is carrying historically high numbers of passengers, and a recent slight downturn in traffic does not seem to have made much difference.
• News: Fresh hope in FCC dispute, but now Southern faces strike First Capital Connect has revealed that it has improved its pay offer to drivers, as the ban on rest day working and overtime nears the end of its third week. But now there's trouble on the horizon at Southern, where the RMT has called a strike ballot in a dispute over Christmas pay.

Transport for London

• Blackwall Tunnel to be reopened at 19.00 tonightEngineers finish repairs ahead of schedule

Aviation Industry

• British Airways Plc - Financial and Strategic Analysis Review - new report releasedThe report provides a comprehensive insight into the company, including business structure and operations, executive biographies and key competitors.
• BAA places £235m Sterling bond to refinance existing debt BAA today announces that it has successfully placed a £235 million Sterling index-linked bond, with a 2039 maturity and a fixed real annual interest coupon of 3.334%...

Other News Sources

• VIRGIN TRAINS: TIMETABLE CHANGES FROM 13 DECEMBER Following the introduction of a new West Coast timetable last year, there are relatively few changes this December with the basic pattern of service remaining the same. We have however worked with Network Rail and other train operators to identify changes that can sensibly be made within the current framework of the timetable and the following is a list of the principal alterations.
• Birmingham Lays Out Ambitious Sustainability Agenda Through Its Declaration On Climate ChangeBirmingham City Council has thrown down the gauntlet to local authorities across the UK by announcing its intention to publish the Birmingham Declaration on climate change.
• Police put brakes on monster truckA grandfather has defied traffic officials to drive his 82ft super lorry on public roads for the first time.
• Helen Alexander appointed PLA Chairman
• Iran releases UK sailors - reportsThe Foreign Office is checking out reports that five British sailors captured in Iranian waters last Wednesday have been released.
• Rail firms try to steer clear of replacement busesThe departure screen at Euston station. Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty Images Network Rail is removing replacement bus services from major train routes following widespread criticism of the disruptio...
• Iran issues warning over UK yacht crew An Iranian official has said "serious" measures will...