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

Friday, 11 March 2011

BBC News

• Swansea rail electrification plea from city leader Swansea council leader Chris Holley has urged the Welsh and UK governments to secure European funding to electrify the rail line to the city.
• Maersk strikes gas in North SeaThe petroleum arm of the Danish shipping company, Maersk, strikes gas in the North Sea, 145 km east of Aberdeen.
• Cut car fuel VAT now, says BallsShadow Chancellor Ed Balls calls on the government to reverse the VAT rise on car fuel with immediate effect.
• High-speed rail 'white elephant'Business leaders and senior Conservatives say a high-speed rail link which could include Manchester is a vanity project.
• Masseuses awarded injury damagesTwo beauty therapists who suffered repetitive strain injury after giving hours of massages to Virgin Atlantic passengers are awarded damages.
• MPs voice car insurance concernsInsurance firms are criticised by MPs on the Transport Select Committee for encouraging injury claims after car accidents.

Financial Times

• Concerns grow as petrol breaches £6 markConcerns over petrol prices are growing after they shot through a record £6 a gallon as heightened tensions in the Middle East added to worries that bigger increases were on the way
• Regulators raid Baltic rail freight companiesEuropean competition regulators raided companies involved in rail freight in Latvia and Lithuania because of concerns that they could be involved in cartels
• Hutchison ports IPO set to raise $5.4bnBankers running a Singapore initial public offering of Hutchison Whampoa's Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports have told investors that the price is likely to be set at $1.01 per share, which is expected to be confirmed Monday

The Herald

• Take a road test to get kids on bikesIT has been a staple part of Scotland™s education system for more than half a century.
• Liverpool rail plan lined up DIRECT train services between Scotland and Liverpool could be introduced by 2014 in a bid to boost rail travel to the north-west of England.
• Swinney takes first trip along M74 missing linkFINANCE Secretary John Swinney undertook the first passenger car journey across the new M74 extension in Glasgow yesterday, claiming the project showed the SNP™s commitment to improving transport links in the west of Scotland.

The Independent

• Virgin Atlantic pays damages to massage therapists Two former beauty therapists who developed repetitive strain injuries through giving massages to air travellers have won a total of £300,430 damages from Virgin Atlantic.

The Scotsman

• Airline giant to create 450 jobsAirline giant Virgin Atlantic has announced the creation of 450 jobs under plans to expand its fleet this year.

Daily Express

• Rolls-Royce joins Daimler in £2.7bn bidTURBINE maker Rolls-Royce and German car giant Daimler are SDHp teaming up to launch a £2.75billion takeover of a German company which began life making engines for Zeppelin airships.

ATOC

• 2012 Games spectators can buy rail tickets 12 months in advanceLondon 2012 spectators can buy rail tickets 12 months in advance London 2012 spectators travelling by rail to Olympic and Paralympic sporting venues throughout Britain will benefit from special...

Birmingham Mail

• Birmingham's £1.9m 'road to nowhere' IT’S the £1.9 million road to nowhere.
• London Midland warns over Sunday service London Midland, which operates services in London, the Midlands and the North West, has advised passengers to seek other means of transport on Sunday because of the impact of an overtime ban by its drivers in a row over pay.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Tram repair crews out to fix 'botched' roadworksTRAM works are set to resume in the city centre, but only to make repairs to the crumbling road surface on Princes Street.

Journal Live

• Metro line closure set to double trip times TRANSPORT bosses have released details of one of the biggest bus replacement services in the region’s history – but have admitted some journey times could double.

Metro

• New community transport funding won’t match rural bus grant cuts Metro has described the £192k of community bus service funding for West Yorkshire announced by Transport Minister Norman Baker on Wednesday 9 March as an inadequate plug for the hole left by the Government’s cuts the Rural Bus Grant.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Metro revamp on track for brand new look MORE details of the biggest transport expenditure project in Tyneside’s recent history have been unveiled by Metro bosses.

Northern Echo

• 'Metropolitan county' blow to free travel A GOVERNMENT decision to classify County Durham as a metropolitan area is to blame for cuts to free bus travel for elderly and disabled people, councillors heard yesterday.

Wales Online

• ’Use Euro funds for further rail-line upgrade’ EUROPEAN funding should be used by the UK Government to electrify the rail line to Swansea, a council leader said last night.

Yorkshire Post

• Ignore doubters on Yorkshire high-speed rail link, minister is urgedTRANSPORT Secretary Philip Hammond was urged today to “keep his nerve” as he faced calls for the multi-billion pound high-speed rail line to Yorkshire to be scrapped.

Bucks Free Press

• Next chief and ex-chancellor condemn 'white elephant' HS2THE chief executive of clothes retail giant Next is one of 21 leaders of business and economy who have called High Speed 2 œan extremely expensive white elephant.

Other Regional Press

• Green light for new town's railway station Construction work on a railway station at the new Devon town of Cranbrook could start as early as next spring.
• Letter: Shropshire’s public transport is going nowhere [letter]The rail services in our county are, in my opinion, in a state of total chaos.
• Minister announces replacement bus service funding for rural routes NORTH Lincolnshire has been awarded more than £77,000 to kick-start community transport services.
• Cash cuts may put brakes on busesTransport for elderly and disabled people could be at risk of cutbacks as a cash-strapped council struggles to meet huge shortfalls in bus funding.
• Huddersfield MP urges Transport Secretary to 'keep his nerve' on high-speed rail plans HUDDERSFIELD MP Barry Sheerman waded into the debate on the Government's proposed High Speed Rail line this morning.

Campaign for Better Transport

• Three things that we need from high speed rail plans10 March: The plans for high speed rail continue to be controversial. We think the Government needs to do more to make sure it's going to be worth the expense. read more

Global Rail News

• Study claims UK adults willing to invest £11.5bn for passenger owned trainsUK adults are prepared to invest £11.5bn – an average of £241 each – to have a rail company which is owned by passengers, believing they ...
• Business leaders oppose HS2 in open letterIn an open letter to the Daily Telegraph, 21 business leaders have dismissed the HS2 project as an “expensive white elephant” and a “vanity project.” The ...
• Pro-Rail Alliance: ˜German travellers pay the highest taxes™At the start of the International Travel Trade Show (ITB) in Berlin, the German Pro-Rail Alliance criticised the amount of value added tax levied on cross-border ...
• Eurail Group wins Best Sustainable Travel ProviderFor the second year running, Eurail Group G.I.E. was the recipient of the Sustainable Travel Provider 2010 prize. This prestigious label was awarded by the “New ...
• East Coast urges travellers to book ahead for Olympic GamesEast Coast is urging travellers planning a trip to next year™s Olympic and Paralympic Games events in London, Newcastle and Glasgow to plan ahead and take ...
• 95% of Southern passengers travel through ˜Secure Stations™Angmering station in West Sussex has become the 120th Southern station to achieve Secure Station status and as a result, 95% of Southern passengers now travel ...
• London Midland announce ASLEF strike actionThe train operator London Midland has released a statement regarding strikes by the ASLEF driver’s union that will be affecting their services. Other operators such as Arriva ...
• Deutsche Bahn could run ICE trains through Channel TunnelIn a move that would allow Siemens-built trains to operate from Germany to London St Pancras through the Channel Tunnel, the French government has said that it ...
• ATOC calls for Network Rail break upThe Association of Train Operating Companies has put forward a proposal that would see Network Rail broken up into ten regional infrastructure companies. According to ATOC, ...
• CrossCountry campaigns to ease congestion during Cheltenham FestivalPlans to ease congestion during the Cheltenham Festival have been put in place by CrossCountry trains, the official travel partner of the event with a campaign to ...

Railway Gazette

• Brescia high speed line contract signed ITALY: A €700m contract for construction of the Treviglio - Brescia second phase of the Milano - Verona high speed line was signed by RFI and the Cepav Due consortium on March 7. The contract is the first of two which are to be awarded for the section, which is expected to cost around €2bn. It covers the construction of 58 km of double-track railway, with 39 km of high speed line, a 12 km link into Brescia from the main corridor which will run south of the city, and 7 km of dedicated line alongside the existing tracks into the city's main station. The high speed line is being developed i...

The Business Desk

• WiFi access is free in first class Business travellers taking the train between Leicestershire and London now have access to WiFi internet connections.

Aviation Industry

• Wi-Fi Systems Cause Cockpit Monitors to Go BlankBoeing has confirmed that certain Honeywell avionics displays have shut down as a result of interference from onboard wi-fi systems, according to a FlightGlobal report.
• Lufthansa cabin modifications aimed at raising service qualityLufthansa is in the midst of a €2.8 billion ($3.9 billion) investment program to upgrade its fleet and improve service quality, with arriving Airbus A380s playing a large role.
• œDamage has already been caused by APDSenior figures in Scottish aviation and business have called on the government to freeze and reduce APD
• Swiss cuts fuel consumptionSwitzerland International Airlines (Swiss) has reduced the amount of fuel it consumed per passenger by nearly 4%
• Cathay Pacific to boost fleetAsian carrier Cathay Pacific has added 27 new aircraft to its planned fleet expansion
• T5 fully operational after security scareHeathrow™s Terminal 5 partially evacuated, when armed police stopped a man carrying a suspect package

Green Miscellany

• The bicycle conjured from nylon powder Aerospace company EADS has built a bicycle from a bag of nylon powder to demonstrate its latest technology for making strong and lightweight components. read more

Other News Sources

• Goverment invests £30m in community transportMore than £10m has been provided by the Government for community transport schemes to ease the burden on cuts to subsidised local authority services.
• RMT reaction to Hutton Pension ReviewRMT General Secretary Bob Crow says the Hutton Review will be
• Improvements announced for Hampshire rail services RAIL passengers in Hampshire should expect improvements from decentralisation plans announced by Network Rail, according to the company™s boss.
• Eagle warns against 'mini-Railtracks'The shadow transport secretary has warned ministers not to return to