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

Saturday, 02 July 2011

BBC News

• VIDEO: Edinburgh trams get green lightEdinburgh City Council has two months to find an estimated £250m after it decided to push on with its controversial trams project.
• Alcohol ban for festival trainsFestival-goers travelling by rail from the north of Scotland to T in the Park are to be banned from drinking alcohol on the train.
• Troubled trams project to go onCouncillors in Edinburgh decide to carry on with the city's troubled trams project - but will have to find another £200m to fund it.
• Roads boss caused bikers' deathsA man who had responsibility for road safety in a French town is fined for causing the deaths of an English couple in the Highlands
• TitanicHaunting new images of world's most famous shipwreck
• Two fuel laundering plants foundCustoms officers have uncovered two fuel laundering plants in County Armagh in the last week, capable of producing almost 18m litres of illegal diesel a year.
• Man dies in Lurgan road accidentA 27-year-old man has died and three others are injured in a traffic accident in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Financial Times

• Flybe teams with Finnair for FCA bidUK regional airline takes first step in European expansion strategy with joint bid for Finland's biggest domestic operator

The Herald

• Funding options: the pros and consGovernment capital grant funding:
• 200 stranded as plane delayedNEARLY 200 passengers were being put up in hotels last night after a flight to Turkey from Glasgow Airport was postponed due to an aircraft problem.

The Independent

• Coalition scraps national network of charging points for electric carsThe coalition Government's green credentials were called into question yesterday after it scrapped plans for a nationwide network of recharging points for electric cars.

Daily Record

• Coastguards complete 'extremely risky" rescue of fuel-laden trawler hit by fire near Fraserburgh Crew on the Danish registered Vardborg raised the alarm at 12.23 to report a blaze in their engine room while they were six miles off Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire.

Mail Online

• Chipping in to help the environment: Thomson Airways launches aircraft powered by COOKING OILNext month, Thomson Airways will become Britain's first airline to fly customers on biofuel -- one made from cooking oil -- when it operates a service to Spain.
• Driver with 30 penalty points is not banned because it will cause them 'exceptional hardship'The motorist, from Blackburn, Lancashire, convinced magistrates they would suffer 'exceptional hardship' if they were banned from the roads.
• The cash for crash conspiracy: The £4.6bn racket involving greedy lawyers and insurers that's sending YOUR premiums sky highOur investigation begins on the outskirts of Manchester, at the Egertons Recovery depot. Every day, every week, the garage’s distinctive yellow recovery trucks can be seen attending crashes all over the city.
• Mobile phone boss Tobias Baker gets driving ban after 160mph Suffolk police chaseDuring a chase on a wet dual carriageway at night, Tobias Baker, 34, drove his Aston Martin Vantage at 160mph, the take-off speed of a fully loaded Boeing 757.

The Sun

• 160mph Aston Martin nut let offA DRIVER who fled cops at 160mph avoids jail saying he had to look after his sick wife
• Richard Hammond sells his Lamborghini – because it’s too flashRICHARD Hammond sells his Lamborghini after just three months – because it’s too flash

Manchester Evening News

• New world record for Denton man who travelled to all 270 London tube stations in under 17 hours Tube fan Marc Gawley has set a new world record “ by visiting all 270 London Underground stations in the fastest-ever time. Marc, 33, a management consultant from Denton, covered the famous London tracks in 16 hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds.

Metro

• Road deaths fall to a record low of 1,857 fatalities in 2010Road deaths have fallen to an all-time low “ but experts have warned they could rise again as cutbacks lead to a loss of safety expertise.

Other Regional Press

• £733m trams plan is back on trackEdinburgh™s first trams could be running by 2014 after councillors last night voted to go ahead with the line from the airport to St Andrew Square at an estimated cost of £773million.
• Eastern promise for city SubwayGlasgow™s transport bosses are looking to Taiwan and Singapore to learn about the latest technology for the Subway modernisation.

C.N.N.

• 15 killed in shootout between Mexican navy, alleged cartel membersA five-hour shootout between Mexican navy fighters and alleged members of the

Global Rail News

• Influential rail strategy supports need for High Speed 2The West Coast Main Line is facing a ‘capacity crunch and a new high-speed line could well be the best solution’, a Network Rail report suggests. ...
• UK rail continues to be one of the ˜safest forms of transport™RSSB has today published the Annual Safety Performance Report for the financial year 2010/2011. In 2010/11, there were 1.4 billion passenger journeys (an 8% increase on 2009/10), ...
• 1,000 Crossrail lorry drivers complete road safety awareness trainingAhead of main construction work for new central London stations beginning later this year, the first 1,000 Crossrail lorry drivers have completed an innovative training course ...
• Work underway on Crossrail logistics hub in Thames GatewayA disused Kent industrial site will be brought back to life for the Crossrail project. Crossrail has signed an agreement to lease land at Lafarge’s former ...

Railnews

• PM urged to intervene over 20,000 Derby jobs at risk Business and council leaders in Derby are warning that the award of the Thameslink rolling stock contract to Siemens has placed 20,000 jobs at risk, and are urging the Prime Minister to intervene. A delegation from the city has been holding urgent talks at the Bombardier global HQ in Berlin, where they learnt that Bombardier is now reviewing its UK activities.

Other News Sources

• Edinburgh trams: Council votes for £773m St Andrew Square planCouncillors voted to continue the line as far as the city centre after five hours of debating on the topic.