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

Thursday, 25 March 2010

BBC News

• Jarvis to call in administrators Rail maintenance company Jarvis has announced that it will go into administration after lenders refused to offer the company further credit.
• Bus station to open after burst pipe flood Derby's new bus station is expected to open at the weekend after serious flooding which left the floor under nearly three inches of water.
• Alstom bosses held in fraud case Three directors of French transport and infrastructure group Alstom have been arrested in a UK corruption probe, the Serious Fraud Office says.
• Decision awaited on rail strikeThe first national rail strike since 1994 could be called later, threatening travel disruption over Easter.
• City's bus lane tickets not validMore than 5,000 fines handed to motorists caught driving in bus lanes in Greater Manchester are invalid.
• BA strikers to lose travel perksBritish Airways cabin crew who took part in a three-day strike will lose their travel perks, the company confirms.

Financial Times

• Jarvis goes into administration Jarvis, once the UK’s largest construction company, has gone into administration. The rail maintenance group, chaired by former Tory minister Steven Norris, has become one of the biggest names to fall victim to a slowdown in government spending.
• TransurbanA $6bn takeover offer for the toll-road operator pulls onto the hard shoulder
• Two-way rail battle likely for ArrivaThe German government has given its backing to Deutsche Bahn's proposed takeover of Arriva, but SNCF is also considering making an offer
• DP World profits tumble 30%In spite of a fall in net profits, the flagship asset of the troubled Dubai World conglomerate has increased dividends by 19% in an effort to demonstrate its confidence in its business
• S Korean shipyards face choppy watersSouth Korea's shipbuilders are beginning to suffer the effects of the protracted slump across most shipping sectors, with figures from three leading yards showing significant jumps in net debt

The Guardian

• Church packed for traffic congestion meeting Residents attending a public meeting on traffic congestion in Aireborough have called for a task force to be set up to tackle the problem.
• Boris Johnson: fares unfair, say Greens The Assembly's Greens have revisited the argument about Mayor Johnson's distribution of January's public transport fares hikes and the levels of revenue subsidy. Drawing on findings from Transport for London's 2007/08 Travel Demand Survey of Londoners' travel habits (the last of its kind, I think) Jenny Jones notes the following:
• Alstom bosses held on bribe chargesDirectors arrested in dawn raids over allegations concerning substantial bribes being paid to secure contracts abroadThree UK directors of the engineering firm Alstom were arrested in dawn raids by fraud investigators and police officers today over allegations concerning substantial bribes being paid to secure contracts abroad.In one of the biggest co-ordinated operations by the Serious Fraud Office for several years, the men, all of whom are directors of Alstom subsidiary companies in Britain, were seized from their beds at 5am on suspicion of bribery, corruption, money laundering and false a...

The Herald

• Fuel duty rise delayedThe Chancellor took pity on motorists today by introducing his near-3p a litre fuel rise, planned for April 1, in three stages.

The Independent

• Rail maintenance firm calls in administrators Around 2,000 jobs are under threat after railway maintenance contractor Jarvis said today that it was calling in administrators following a plunge in rail and plant work.
• Striking BA cabin crew to lose staff travel discountsA new row flared at British Airways yesterday after the airline told cabin crew who went on strike for three days that they had lost their travel perks.
• Bosses of rail firm held in bribery investigation Three UK board members of the French rail infrastructure group Alstom were arrested by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) yesterday on suspicion of bribery and corruption, conspiracy to bribe, money-laundering and false accounting.

The Scotsman

• Unions 'to set rail strike dates'Network Rail is expecting unions to set strike dates despite continuing peace talks aimed at resolving rows over jobs and working practices.

The Telegraph

• Budget 2010: Free bus pass age to rise as default retirement age to be scrapped Older people will have to wait longer to get free bus passes under new cost-cutting plans.
• Budget 2010: motorists face 1p fuel duty rise Motorists will face a 1p increase in fuel duty from next month, followed by two more rises by the end of the year.
• MPs call for more flights to be banned from danger zones Ministers should be more willing to refuse flights from nations that do not meet international security standards. the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee said.
• Freezing weather causes 40pc rise in potholes Councils were forced to fill 1.4 million holes at a cost of £103 million, the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found.
• Budget 2010: Air Passenger Duty and the rising cost of flying for British families The Budget has confirmed that families face duties on flights that are 325% higher than in 2006. Charles Starmer-Smith says it is time the Government gave travellers a fair deal.
• And for you in-flight entertainment? An erupting volcano As far as in-flight entertainment is concerned, airlines would be hard-pressed to beat this - a birds eye view of an erupting volcano.
• Tube strike threat Passengers are facing the threat of even more strikes with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union now threatening industrial action on the London Underground.

Times Online

• 2,000 jobs at risk as Jarvis enters administration Jarvis, the railway maintenance contractor, has gone into administration after “very considerable reductions” in rail and plant hire volumes, putting 2,000 jobs at risk.
• DP World's profits fall by almost halfDP World, the ports operator owned by Dubai World, today announced a 46 per cent slump in annual net profits to $333 million ($£222 million) for 2009, as the global economic downturn hit international cargo traffic.
• Virgin pilots threaten more travel miseryPassengers face the prospect of yet more air travel misery after Virgin Atlantic™s pilots demanded that negotiations on pay be reopened, with the possibility that they could be balloted on strike action.
• McCall is heading into turbulence at easyJetThe board of easyJet has now appointed a chief operating officer from AOL, a chief financial officer from EMI and a chief executive from the Guardian Media Group ” do they realise they are running an airline? What next? Move the head office from Luton Airport to Soho?
• Smiths sails through the scannerForget all the fuss about what you can or can™t see through an airport full-body scanner ” a clear picture was provided yesterday by a company that makes these devices, as Smiths Group released first-half results. Despite a 5 per cent fall in underlying sales, operating profits at the FTSE 100 industrial conglomerate rose an above-forecast 12 per cent ” helped by operating margins that touched their best level in a decade. Smiths™ shares responded with a return to their pre-Lehman high.
• Investors take flight at easyJetThe appointment of Carolyn McCall as chief executive of easyJet yesterday wiped nearly £20 million off the budget airline™s market capitalisation and left the City baffled by her selection.

Press Association

• Willow trees to power airport An airport will become the first in the UK to be powered partly by willow trees, it has confirmed. The first cuttings in the 26-hectare willow farm planned at East Midlands Airport have been planted. The trees will produce fuel for a biomass boiler in the terminal building, a spokeswoman said.

Mail Online

• Three directors of rail engineering firm Alstom arrested for bribery and corruption
• British Airways strips striking cabin crew of travel perks

Network Rail

• PRIME MINISTER PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON RAIL INVESTMENT

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Jet2 fly to the rescue as strike hits VIPs Leeds-Bradford Airport-based airline Jet2 œrescued royals and celebrities including Prince William and Mike Tyson from the chaos caused by the British Airways strike.
• Passengers happy at Bradford station revamp Proposals have been put forward for a major scheme to refurbish and upgrade the district™s busiest rail station.

Derby Telegraph

• Green revamp takes flight WILLOW trees that will eventually cover an area the size of 52 football pitches will be used to heat East Midlands Airport as it strives to become carbon-neutral.

Journal Live

• Calls to keep Newcastle Central Station in public hands TRANSPORT bosses have called for the region’s most important train station to be kept in public hands and not included in the next rail franchise.

London Evening Standard

• Jarvis collapses into administration as banks pull supportJarvis, the rail contractor which admitted liability for the fatal 2002 Potters Bar Rail crash and is chaired by former Tory minister Steven Norris, today collapsed into administration.
• TfL attacked for transporting ’green’ buses around the worldA fleet of new London buses hailed as the ultimate green vehicles are being shipped thousands of miles to get here — the equivalent of three-quarters of the way around the globe.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Rail bosses want to improve Central Station NEW Metro ticket machines are set to appear as rail bosses fight for the future of Newcastle Central Station.

Yorkshire Post

• York rail giant Jarvis plunges into administration RAIL services company Jarvis has called in the administrators after failing to win sufficient support from its lenders.
• MPs demand better airport security The Government should introduce more varied, improved and less predictable security measures at airports, a report by MPs said today.

The Shields Gazette

• Plans for direct rail link to cityA DIRECT Metro link between South Shields and Sunderland is part of an ambitious blueprint for the future of the network.

Campaign for Better Transport

• Budget postpones the tough choices on transport24 March: Today's budget from Alistair Darling contains some welcome announcements (for instance agreeing to our call for another round of the Green Bus Fund) but the tough choices about prioritising spending are postponed again till after the election. read more

Aviation Industry

• Leader in global freight selects StanstedPanalpina, world leaders in global freight operations, have selected London Stansted Airport as the base from which they will operate all their UK air freight operations...
• Government noise policy still missing the pointThe government™s long-awaited Noise Policy Statement for England was published last week, setting out aims for noise management to be taken into account in government decision making. Yet the policy seems to have been designed to avoid having any real impact. Campaigners have been calling for many years for a noise strategy and Defra had previously [...]

Other News Sources

• Residents demand A65 action Organisers of a meeting calling for action to end congestion on two major roads are hoping the strength of public feeling shown will help bring about a detailed action plan.
• Ryanair opens new base at LBIA Low-cost airline Ryanair was due to open its new base at Leeds Bradford International Airport today, which is expected to create 1,000 jobs in the region.
• Historic Darwen tram shelters could be renovated HISTORIC tram shelters in Darwen town centre will be renovated, if plans are given the green light.
• RMT sets deadline for tube strike ballot as union submits dossier of unstaffed tube stationsTUBE UNION RMT confirmed today that it has set a deadline of 5pm on Thursday 25th March 2010 for London Underground to withdraw the threat of axing 800 staff and closing ticket offices or the union will declare a dispute and ballot for strike action and action short of a strike.
• Strike fails to send BA's reputation into freefalltravel
• Ryanair takes first steps into social mediaRyanair is preparing its first social media play by developing an online travel community and ramping up content across its website.
• Preston bus staff bid to buy back companyStaff members at the former Preston Bus firm have entered an indicative bid to buy the company back from Stagecoach.
• Network Rail defends bridge works NETWORK Rail has been fending off criticism about its bridge works in Winchester that are set to cause chronic disruption from next month.
• Chancellor's 'surprise' £100m for potholesCash boost set to compensate for harsh winter damage to local roads
• Transport group calls for more investmentTransport should not be seen as an easy budget to cut but as the path out of recession for urban areas, the Passenger Transport Executive Group says