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

Monday, 18 October 2010

BBC News

• Mersey £431m bridge plan escapes spending review cuts Plans to build a second £431m bridge between Runcorn and Widnes will go ahead, the chancellor has confirmed.
• Channel Tunnel in German high-speed train test The German railway, Deutsche Bahn, says it has held its first test of a high-speed train carrying passengers in the Channel Tunnel.
• Eurostar services to Brussels hitThousands of Eurostar passengers have had to change their travel plans because of industrial action on Belgium's rail network.

Financial Times

• Train chief attacks timid rail overhaul One of Britain’s biggest train operators has launched a blistering attack on the government’s plans to overhaul the rail system, accusing it of “tinkering round the edges” and “lacking vision and ambition”.
• 'Vulture funds' eye M6 toll operatorCompany concedes that the debt is not 'attractive' in the current market, but says that does not portend a sale

The Independent

• Allianz in £2bn plan to buy Channel rail link The German insurance giant Allianz is set to make a £2bn bid for the Channel Tunnel rail link, a prized piece of UK infrastructure that is expected to be privatised.
• Business Diary: EasyJet lands its latest arrival EasyJet wasted no time in replacing its head of public relations, Oliver Aust, when he announced his departure last month, and swooped to hire FirstGroup's Paul Moore, PR Week reveals.
• Potholes and grit: councils race to beat cold The worst winter for 30 years took local councils by surprise earlier this year “ but 10 months on, many are still struggling to deal with backlogs in repairing potholes in roads and building up grit supplies.

The Telegraph

• Yellow box camera raises £1 million a year It has been called the "money box" – a traffic camera at a yellow box junction in Battersea, south London is raising a million pounds a year in fines levied on hapless motorists.
• Allianz lines up for Channel Tunnel rail sale A new name has emerged among the suitors for the Channel Tunnel rail link with Allianz submitting a last minute bid.

Liverpool Post

• Demand for Halewood’s new Evoque leads to 500 extra production jobs HALEWOOD’S Land Rover car plant is to recruit an extra 500 staff.

The York Press

• York's transport chiefs call for help over Park&Ride scheme's futureYORK'S businesses and residents are being asked to lobby MPs and Government ministers over the future of the stalled expansion of the city's Park&Ride network.

Wales Online

• Arriva ’using spare trains for English routes’ THE national train operator of Wales was criticised yesterday for using spare resources to boost an English railway which already has better services than many Welsh lines.

Yorkshire Post

• Firms urged to back £26m transport plan BUSINESSES are being urged to back a £26m transport scheme in one of Yorkshire's most congested cities to try and save a package of much-needed improvements from the Government's public sector cutbacks.
• Transport test of healing promise DURING the General Election campaign George Osborne and David Cameron told the people of Yorkshire that transport would be at the heart of their efforts to close the North-South divide and rebalance the economy – the comprehensive spending review will reveal if they are true to their word.

Rail-News.com

• £15m reunification plan announced to connect both Great Central RailwaysA new special-purpose company has been jointly-established by the Great Central Railway PLC and Great Central Railway (Nottingham) to drive forward the long-held mutual ambition of reuniting their two railways to create a 17-mile, independently owned East Midlands main line.

Other News Sources

• Alstom Says Sales Growth in India May Outpace Economy on Rail Investment Alstom SA, the world’s second- largest trainmaker, said Indian sales growth may surpass local economic expansion as the government works on a 14 trillion rupee ($317 billion) plan to expand and modernize railroads.
• Deutsche Bahn May Run German-U.K. Routes After Channel Tunnel Test Success Groupe Eurotunnel SA said successful safety tests carried out this weekend using Deutsche Bahn AG trains may lead to a high-speed train link between Germany and the U.K.
• Hatfield remembers rail crash victims ten years on Survivors and grieving relatives, representatives of the emergency services and members of a community touched by tragedy came together today to mark the tenth anniversary of the Hatfield rail crash.
• Problems For Eurostar Passengers In London Just one Eurostar service is running between London and Brussels due to industrial action in Belgium.

News from Europe

• World rail market October 2010 Denmark: DSB has ordered 188 Hoeft & Wessel almex.station ticket machines. All will accept payments by coins and cards, and some will take banknotes and give notes as change.
• Gauge changer trial SPAIN: Infrastructure authority ADIF is testing the TCSR03 gauge-changer which has been built at Roda de Bará near Tarragona, using facilities made redundant by completion of the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line.