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

Friday, 07 January 2011

BBC News

• London Tube documents 'show station staffing cuts'A third of London Underground (LU) stations will be unmanned for parts of the day if proposed job cuts go-ahead, the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has claimed.
• Road repairs 'may cost up to £1m'Up to one million pounds may have to be spent by Sandwell council repairing roads, the authority says.
• Security level raised at airportsThe terrorist threat level specific to major UK transport hubs has been raised from substantial to severe, the BBC understands.
• Airport £280m deal secures fundsManchester Airport announces a refinance deal putting its development plans on a firmer footing.
• Hardy and Heaney among Tube poetsPoems from Seamus Heaney, Thomas Hardy and John Keats are to be displayed on Tube trains in London.
• Renault warns of threat to assetsFrench carmaker Renault says suspected industrial espionage against its business threatens its
• BA faces £50m winter weather costBritish Airways says that the disruption caused by the bad weather in December could cost it about £50m.

Financial Times

• BA warns of £50m bad weather costsThe airline warns that the snow that caused travel chaos before Christmas will cost it £50m after passenger numbers fell sharply following the closure of a runway at Heathrow airport

The Guardian

• High-speed rail route to get 2m trees for shelterGovernment to line London-Birmingham high-speed rail route with trees to help contain noise and keep trains from view
• Boris Johnson: how goes his 'cycle revolution'? [blog]Boris's cycle hire scheme has been characterised crisply by the Standard's Ross Lydall. Of the third annual Travel in London report he wrote: It provides statistical back-up for the belief that Boris bikes have become posh-boys' toys - a majority of users are white, male and earn more than £50,000 a year, with 68 per cent aged between 25 and 44.

The Scotsman

• Row over minister's hands-on approachA ROW has erupted over the transport minister's hands-on role during the cold spell, after an opponent questioned whether he should have spent so much time in the Transport Scotland traffic control room
• Transport system 'terror threat'The public has been warned to be vigilant of terrorism after security was reportedly tightened at transport hubs in the UK.

The Telegraph

• Boris Johnson's broken promises on the river [blog]Through the heart of London, free of all the normal hold-ups, runs a six-lane highway, used to a mere fraction of its potential. In a report launched exactly a year ago tonight and co-authored by me, the think-tank Policy Exchange argued that the Thames could transform many Londoners’ travelling lives.

Press Association

• Two million trees to be planted along new rail lineThe Government has pledged to plant at least two million trees along the proposed route of the new high speed rail line between London and Birmingham.

Daily Express

• Rolls-Royce gets lift from BA's £3.2bn engine orderROLLS-Royce's dented safety reputation got a vote of confidence yesterday as it landed a £3.2billion deal with -British Airways to power its new fleet of state-of-the art aircraft.

Mail Online

• New terror alert hits trains and airports amid fears of Mumbai-style attack in LondonTransport police were ordered to cancel their leave so extra officers could be deployed across the Tube and busy airports, including Luton and Heathrow.

The Mirror

• Transport system 'terror threat' The public has been warned to be vigilant of terrorism after security was reportedly tightened at transport hubs in the UK.

Derby Telegraph

• Winter road damage assessments beginCOUNCILS have begun to assess the damage the harsh winter weather has wreaked on the area's roads. Councillor Chris Poulter, cabinet member for neighbourhoods at Derby City Council, said:

Edinburgh Evening News

• It's another fine mess as sewage blamed on tramsIT'S not the first time the trams have created a stink in Leith, but local businesses have blamed the controversial project after sewage flooded into their properties.

Liverpool Post

• Maersk sees 8% rise in global market MAERSK Line saw an 8% improvement in the global shipping market this year.

London Evening Standard

• Tube job cuts will leave third of stations unstaffed, union claimsA third of Tube stations managed by London Underground are to be left unmanned for part of the day because of staff cuts, union chiefs say
• Transport system 'terror threat'The public has been warned to be vigilant of terrorism after security was reportedly tightened at transport hubs in the UK.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Calls for improved snow-clearingCalls for improved snow-clearing on the A93 Braemar to Glenshee road are to be raised with Transport Minister Keith Brown.

Blackpool Gazette

• £30m to repair Blackpool roads£30m is to be sunk into fixing Blackpool's damaged roads “ bringing an end to pothole hell for drivers.

Lancashire Telegraph

• New cycle paths to get Padiham students on their bikesA £190,000 scheme to create new cycle paths around Shuttleworth College has been unveiled. Students are being encouraged to get on their bikes under the Lancashire County Council and the Sustrans Links to Schools initiative

Northants Evening Telegraph

• 500 crashes in four yearsThere have been 499 road accidents involving police cars in Northamptonshire in the past four years.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Protest: Railway travel cost hike ˜unfare™Angry protestors slammed the hike in rail ticket prices as “un-fare” as they held a demonstration outside Peterborough Railway Station yesterday (5th January).

Other Regional Press

• Wrong fuel in publically-funded vehicles costs taxpayers £10k PARAMEDICS, police and council workers who put the wrong fuel in publically-funded vehicles have cost Oxfordshire taxpayers almost £10,000 in less than two years.
• A light that is yet to shine....A congestion-busting traffic light system has never been called into action – because there has not been enough traffic to trigger it.
• Aberdeen ˜green™ car scheme revealedABERDEEN residents are being offered their chance to voice views on a plan to offer green cars for hire in Aberdeen.
• Rail fair increases are 'socially damaging' say LabourLabour Councillors in Bedford today slammed the Government for increasing the price of rail season tickets.

Campaign for Better Transport

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Railway Gazette

• Taiwan Railway Administration orders tilting trains TAIWAN: Japanese suppliers Sumitomo Corp and Nippon Sharyo confirmed on January 6 that they had signed a NT$10·6bn contract to supply Taiwan Railway Administration with 17 inter-city tilting trainsets capable of operation at 150 km/h. Under the deal agreed on December 31, the eight-car EMUs are due to be delivered in 2012-14 for use on Taroko Express services between Taipei and Hualien on TRA's 1 067 mm gauge east coast route. The aluminium-bodied trains will feature wheelchair access, luggage and bicycle spaces and onboard vending machines. The east coast line was electrified at 25 kV 60 Hz ...

Aviation Industry

• Snow costs BA £50mThe December blizzards cost British Airways millions of pounds, official figures reveal, after the airline lost the equivalent of 12% in capacity

Other News Sources

• British Cycling Handed Cash Boost to Get Women Cycling The National Women's Cycling Network aims to get 80,000 women back on their bikes or riding for the first time. Sport England has handed British Cycling £992,159 of National Lottery cash in a bid to get 80,000 women back on a bike or riding for the first time.
• Cycle to Work schemes could get a boost from new fundingCycle to Work schemes all across the UK could receive a boost thanks to new funding provided by the National Lottery
• London Underground lies exposed as new documents show that nearly a third of tube stations will be left unstaffed as cuts biteTUBE UNION RMT today demanded an immediate halt to the London Underground cuts programme as new documents released the union show that 30.5% of stations have been scheduled to be unstaffed during operational hours - a direct contradiction of the speech given by Mayor Boris Johnson at the Tory Party conference in October last year where he said that staffing cuts would leave 'no station unstaffed at any time.'