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

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

BBC News

• Network Rail plan to ease Cardiff & valleys congestion Details of a £200m plan to ease railway congestion in Cardiff and the south Wales valleys have been revealed.
• Safety boost for Sunderland Metro passengers A campaign to make Metro passengers feel more safe on the Sunderland branch of the Metro line is due to begin.
• Fuel and roads on voting agendaVoters in Powys voice concerns about pressures on their standard of living ahead of next month's assembly elections.
• Airport City ready for take offManchester Airport is confident of attracting
• Tube upgrade takes centre stageThe Tube is going to be a huge issue at next year's mayoral election, says Tom Edwards
• London Tube delays 'increasing'Delays on the London Underground are "getting worse", Labour has said. Monthly performance figures for January showed the Jubilee Line saw the worst delays, a 26% rise, while Victoria Line faced an 18% hike in disruptions.
• Heathrow rail link shelved by BAAA controversial rail link from Heathrow's Terminal 5 through south west London is shelved due to a lack of money, according to the BAA.
• Nitrogen pollution 'costs £280bn'Nitrogen pollution from farms, vehicles, industry and waste treatment costs the EU up to £280bn (317bn euros) a year, a report says.

Financial Times

• Airlines' duty to travellers faces curbStranded passengers may no longer get free meals and lodging after Brussels acknowledged the industry's complaints and said it would revise a key piece of legislation

The Guardian

• BAA sees traffic at Stansted and Southampton airports slump Colin Matthews, BAA chief executive, said the fragile state of Britain's economic recovery has hit demand for air travel

The Scotsman

• Scottish airport traffic booms but BAA chief sounds a note of caution Chief business correspondent ALL three of BAA's Scottish airports saw solid increases in traffic last month as travellers refused to scrap their holiday plans, despite government austerity measures.

The Telegraph

• EU ready to rewrite flight compensation rules Airlines could be spared the full cost of compensating passengers when flights are grounded under EU proposals.

Reuters News

• BAA traffic edges up on Heathrow and Scotland growthLONDON (Reuters) - Passenger traffic at BAA airports rose slightly last month compared to March 2010, helped by the popularity of flights to China and India from Heathrow and growth at its three Scottish airports.

Mail Online

• Airports braced for check-in chaos as EU plans to lift liquids ban Airline passengers face delays later this month when the EU's ban on carrying liquids in hand luggage is partly lifted.
• Why Z cars are bad luck: Unluckiest reg plates feature last letter of alphabetVehicles with the letter Z in their plates have the most crashes, a study has found. Overall, vehicles with the combination NCZ are to blame for the most crashes.
• EU green tax to add 1.5p to a litre of fuelUnder the controversial ‘green tax’ proposal, the extra levy would be higher on diesel than on petrol, widening the price gap between the two even further.

Network Rail

• WEST COAST MAIN LINE DISRUPTION - LEIGHTON BUZZARD

Birmingham Post

• High Speed Rail: The Birmingham Post HS2 Survey - your comments Comments received in the Birmingham Post HS2 survey.
• High Speed Rail: Birmingham Post HS2 survey results Two-thirds of people who took part in a special Birmingham Post survey opposed the Government’s plan to build a £17 billion high speed railway between London and Birmingham, while just over half did not believe the project would bring any economic benefits to the West Midlands.
• Propaganda war in the battle for and against high speed rail Opponents and supporters of high speed rail are fighting a bitter war of attrition in a propaganda battle over the most significant public transport plan for a generation, reports Public Affairs Correspondent Paul Dale.

Liverpool Post

• Liverpool John Lennon Airport looks to hit heights despite bumpy start to 2011 REDUCED capacity throughout the winter has hit passenger levels at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) – but they expect that this year will still be the busiest since 2008.

London Evening Standard

• Heathrow gets a lift as business execs head for emerging markets More executives jetting off to do business in India, China, Brazil and Russia helped make Heathrow a busier place this March than last, the airport's owner BAA said today.

Manchester Evening News

• Manchester leading the way in push for eco-friendly bussesGreater Manchester is leading the country in the drive to get cash for greener buses. Firms and the region's transport leaders have been given grants totalling more than £11.9m for 162 of the carbon-friendly vehicles in two rounds of funding.

Northern Echo

• Action to tackle city's pollution PART of Durham City is set to be declared an air quality management area, after high levels of pollution were detected around busy commuter routes.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Homeowners say tram plans have devalued their propertiesHOMEOWNERS who live near Nottingham's proposed tram route claim the value of their properties has plummeted. A row of for sale signs has been set up outside Sandby Court, a complex for the elderly in Chilwell. But its residents say their homes have been blighted by plans to run one of the new lines right past their windows. Andrew and Susan Walker are among about ten families struggling to find buyers and want compensation. They have been trying to sell Mrs Walker's deceased aunt's flat for a year and had no interest, despite cutting the asking price from £78,000 to £70,000. Mr Walker, 55, sa...
• Electric buses will be running in Nottingham by the autumnBATTERY-POWERED buses will be in service in Nottingham later this year. The city council has ordered eight Optare Solo electric vehicles after securing more than £760,000 towards the £1.7 million project from the Government's Green Bus Fund. Four will be delivered in autumn for use on the Centrelink route, which is the free service linking the Victoria Centre with the Old Market Square and the Broadmarsh Centre. The remaining four will be used on the city council's Link Bus network – such as the Worklink, Shoplink, Unilink and Medilink services – and will be in operation t...

Wales Online

• £200m package signals new era for rail travel RAIL managers will today formally unveil a £200m upgrade which should reduce the disruption Welsh passengers endure because of maintenance works, rugby internationals or electrical faults.

Other Regional Press

• Hundreds attend campaigners' HS2 information day MORE than 1,000 people turned up in Kenilworth on Saturday to learn about the HS2 plans set to thunder through the town’s border with Coventry.
• Hundreds line streets for Eddie Stobart funeral TRUCKING legend Eddie Stobart, who lived in Warwickshire, had his funeral held on Saturday.

Global Rail News

• Balfour Beatty Rail awarded London Underground contractBalfour Beatty Rail has been awarded a £1m contract for the provision of welding resources to the Track Partnership project. Working on the London Underground Infrastructure ...
• Thales™ CBTC technology celebrates 25 years of successInvented 25 years ago, Thales’ CBTC technology for train control systems remains the benchmark technology. The first fully automatic (driverless) CBTC system was commissioned at the ...
• New travel management technology unveiledA new technology has been unveiled that could see all types of transport, journey and payments together on one management platform. Nextcity, developed by Cubic, could enable ...
• FTA: ˜Scotland can only meet tough environmental obligations through freight™The Freight Transport Association™s strong belief that Scotland can only meet its tough environmental obligations if greener forms of transport are encouraged seems to have been ...
• IRSE appoints first female PresidentHead of Strategy Claire Porter, from Thales UK™s transportation systems business is about to be made President of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, one of ...
• Mid Hants Link rail trial halted due to ˜catastrophic electrical failure™GO! Co-operative Limited has announced plans to reschedule its postponed ˜low carbon™ local rail service in Hampshire. GOCO is in on going negotiations with partners including ...
• BNSF launches mobile apps to manage shipmentsBNSF Railway has released 4 new mobile applications that enable customers to manage their BNSF shipments on their smart phones. The new applications – Unit Trace, ...
• Bombardier ˜redefines the future of urban transport™Bombardier Transportation will unveil two of its most recent and major innovations in the field of urban mobility this week at the UITP conference in Dubai; ...
• DB Schenker Rail awarded CMA CGM contractDB Schenker Rail has been awarded a two year contract by container shipping company CMA CGM to deliver over 25,000 containers per year. Three trains a ...
• Siemens: ˜The future of urban transportation is in electric mobility™Siemens Mobility will be presenting new products and solutions for urban mass transit at the UITP World Congress and Exhibition to be held in Dubai from ...
• Heathrow: ˜No option but to withdraw proposed Airtrack link to Staines™Heathrow Airport today set out a new rail strategy with a view to ’improving passenger experience, taking cars off the road and placing the economic benefits of ...
• Royal Wedding fever hits Chiltern RailwaysChiltern Railways are getting into the spirit of the Royal Wedding this month. The train operating company has announced that anyone with the name of Kate, ...
• First of 16 ScotRail trains receives makeoverA refurbished ScotRail train entered service today “ the first of 16 to receive the makeover over the next few months. All will make their appearance ...

Transport for London

• New major signalling contract will mean faster, more frequent and more reliable Tube servicesNew signalling system will serve 40 per cent of the Tube network. Faster, more reliable trains, more often on Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. Less disruption for Londoners as the need for closures will be reduced.

Aviation Industry

• March traffic figures - BAA's airportsColin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, said:œHeathrow™s performance is solid, and the growth in traffic at our Scottish airports is encouraging.œIn the UK, consumer confidence remains fragile, affecting airports up and down the country. Continued rises in the price of oil are a concern for airlines and passengers in all our markets.
• Heathrow™s vision for future rail accessHeathrow Airport today sets out a new rail strategy with a view to improving passenger experience, taking cars off the road and placing the economic benefits of the UK™s only hub airport at the centre of the national rail network.

Other News Sources

• Road Safety Minister reportedly backs 'dangerous cycling' bill, but DfT says no decision made Road safety minister Mike Penning minister has reportedly pledged his support to a private member’s bill seeking to introduce an offence of causing death or serious injury through reckless or dangerous cycling. However, the Department for Transport has stressed that his remarks were made in the context of a private conversation. Meanwhile CTC has said that existing legislation already covers the issue.
• Golf balls used to shore up £750,000 Brighton bus ticket system œJust a single ticket, sir, or would you like fore?
• Metric Parking Evaluated Top for Quality and Price
• Google gets go-ahead to buy travel firmThe US government has given online giant Google formal approval to proceed with its purchase of travel technology innovator ITA