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

Saturday, 30 January 2010

BBC News

• Tube staff to strike over rotasTube maintenance staff announce a series of strikes will take place in February over new rotas, the RMT union says.
• Businesses pay 2% Crossrail levyLondon firms will pay a 2% business rate levy from April to help pay for the £16bn Crossrail, the London Mayor says.

The Herald

• Country driving under spotlight in new campaignA hard-hitting campaign to reduce the number of deaths on country roads is to be launched in Scotland.

Times Online

• British Airways heading for a £1bn lossBritish Airways is heading more than £1 billion of losses during the steepest aviation recession to date.
• Carmakers hit as Toyota recall crisis spreads The Toyota recall crisis threatened to engulf Peugeot and Citroën last night as the Japanese motor manufacturer admitted that 1.8 million cars across Europe could have defective accelerator pedals.
• Using biofuel in cars 'may accelerate loss of rainforest'Using biofuel in vehicles may be accelerating the destruction of rainforest and resulting in higher greenhouse gas emissions than burning pure petrol and diesel, a watchdog said yesterday.

Liverpool Echo

• Bus firms urged to get on board with scheme to help disabled and elderly A NEW campaign has been launched to get audio and visual information on board all buses and coaches.

The York Press

• Cash boost for York's elderly travellers YORK™S transport boss says it will finally get enough money to pay for elderly people™s concessionary travel.
• Rail safety fears of RMT union leaders UNION leaders claim plans to shed rail workers™ jobs will put lives at risk “ including passengers and employees on routes in the York area.

Other Regional Press

• Rail firm axes 150 Scots workersAround 150 jobs are to be axed at a rail engineering firm in Lanarkshire as part of 300 to be axed around Britain.
• Snowballers excluded after college ’attack’Mischievous students were excluded after they were caught throwing snowballs at a truck delivering food to a college.
• Daily tickets left in the cold as FCC compensates for nightmare periodRail passengers are being offered discounted tickets or a refund following disruption caused by staff shortages and bad weather ...
• Cyclists' safety gear is the wheel deal YOUNG cyclists received an early lesson in road safety, following the donation of 40 helmets to their school.

Forbes

• Smart Travel 101If the thought of hitting the road for business fills you with dread, take heart, there are easy ways to make work trips more manageable and fun.

Washington Post

• For Toyota drivers, confusion and growing anger -- Toyota executives have been virtually silent amid a recall of millions of their cars because gas pedals can become dangerously stuck. For their customers, oh, what a feeling - fear, frustration, confusion and anger.
• Toyota chief apologizes for huge recall TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda apologized for the recall of millions of vehicles around the world, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, as the deepening recall crisis threatened to further damage its sales and delay an earnings recovery.
• Japan not as worried about US Toyota recalls TOKYO -- American Toyota owners are understandably alarmed about ballooning recalls over faulty gas pedals and floor mats. In Japan, the automaker's home market, where there have been no such recalls, the reaction is - also understandably - muted.

Transport for London

• London Underground condemns planned RMT strike actionUnion balloted 750 workers when just 30 staff rosters were under discussion. RMT prepared to try to hold Londoners to ransom for more overtime pay.

Aviation Industry

• UK aviation emissions fall by 3%According to statistics published by the UK™s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), deliveries of aviation turbine fuel fell in 2008 by 3%.  In the fourth quarter of 2008, deliveries decreased by 6.2% on the same quarter the prevous year. Total demand in 2008 was 12.25 million tonnes of fuel compared with 12.63 million tonnes in 2007, following [...]

Other News Sources

• Babcock Rail slashes 300 jobsBabcock Rail has announced it is cutting 300 jobs in Scotland and the North of England.
• Commuters back under-fire rail operatorBedford Commuters' Association offer support to First Capital Connect
• New Thematic Research Summary on Passenger Transport The 'Passenger' transport theme refers to all forms of the public and private transport of people, by air, land or water - whether scheduled or unscheduled, urban, rural, coastal, local, long-distance or cross-border - or involving one or more modes. This Thematic Research Summary (TRS) only deals with research relevant to the planning, organisation or operation of passenger transport modes to the exclusion of freight. The new TRS is available for download from the Thematic publications section of the TRKC website.
• High-speed rail is about more than trains, trackWillis Tower gets an urgent call from his top client in St. Louis at 8 a.m. requesting a face-to-face meeting. The lawyer makes the short walk to a dramatically refurbished Union Station and boards a ...
• Muslim, Sikh, South Asian leaders demand end to racial profilingWashington, Jan 30 (IANS) Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian American community leaders have raised the issue of racial, ethnic and religious profiling at airports and the border with the Obama administration.
• Strengthening maritime security The Rudd Labor Government has moved to strengthen security at Australian ports as well as oil and gas facilities to better protect maritime infrastructure from the threat of terrorism.The Government will introduce changes to the Maritime Security Identification Card (MSIC) scheme in order to:More than double the number of criminal offences that preclude an individual from obtaining the necessary security clearance - from 137 offences to 298 offences. These include murder, use of prohibited explosives, making of a bomb hoax, kidnapping and bribing a government official; Require all MSIC holder...
• USDOT to award $8 billion for High-Speed Rail Projects President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will today announce that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is awarding $8 billion to states across the country to develop America™s first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service.  Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), these dollars represent an historic investment in the country™s transportation infrastructure, which will help create jobs and transform travel in America.  The announcement is one of a number of job initiatives the President will lay out in the coming weeks...
• Getting professional drivers back on the road after the economic crisis The IRU seminar on œImage and Employment in Road Transport brought together some 100 representatives of road transport associations, transport professionals, recruitment and training experts from Europe, CIS countries and the Middle East to exchange best practices for improving the image, recruitment and retention of drivers in the road transport sector.Vice President of the IRU Commission on Social Affairs, Roxana Ilie, said,the crisis has hit the road transport sector hard in terms of company bankruptcies and job losses. Government measures to relieve companies have been sporadic at best ...
• Somali Pirates Hijack Cambodian Cargo ShipSomali gunmen hijacked a Cambodian cargo ship, the...
• China anti-piracy role in Somalia welcomed China's agreement to take on a larger role...
• Runway Activists Plan Heathrow 'Fortress'Activists protesting against a third runway at Heathrow airport have announced plans to build a

Other Subscription Services

• Crossrail 2p business rate supplement confirmedMayor of London Boris Johnson has confirmed that the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement will be set at the proposed rate of two pence in the pound and is payable from April 2010.Despite...