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

Saturday, 27 August 2011

BBC News

• Philippine Airlines to cut jobsPhilippine Airlines announces 2,600 job cuts as it looks to restructure its operations in a bid to reduce losses.
• Train line suspect device 'hoax'A suspect package on a Kent railway line which led to a major police alert was an elaborate hoax, officers say.
• Edinburgh tram decision 'bonkers'The head of Edinburgh Chambers of Commerce describes the decision to cut short the city's controversial tram line as
• Strike train drivers ponder offerRail drivers working for First TransPennine Express are to be balloted by the Aslef union on a 5% deal offered by the company.

Department for Transport

• Transport Secretary welcomes industry work on Bank Holiday rail servicesTransport Secretary Philip Hammond has welcomed the news that the rail industry will be keeping more trains running this August Bank Holiday weekend.

Financial Times

• Shipowner calls on Cosco to remain reliableThe Greek shipowner most heavily involved in a dispute over charter rates with China's Cosco calls on the group's management to maintain its reputation as a reliable business partner after an unscheduled change of chief executive
• Frontline runs into loss on oil tanker glut World's biggest operator reports $35.2m second-quarter net loss and forecasts that poor conditions will continue
• Cosco fights back over charter disputesThe Chinese dry bulk carrier claims its negotiation tactic is standard practice within industry
• Stobart raises forecasts on cost-cutsLogistics group expects to push first-half pre-tax profit past last year's £15.4m as a result of its reorganisation and solid trading
• Michels departs EasyJet early The deputy chairman leaves the airline ahead of schedule in an attempt to draw a line under its dispute with founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou

The Herald

• Tram firm told public purse would pick up growing tabTHE construction firm blamed for the cost overruns that have beset Edinburgh™s tram project were given assurances at the outset that these would be met from the public purse, sources have told The Herald.
• Year in cold storage puts £40m leasing plan in doubtHOPES that Edinburgh™s surplus tram vehicles can be leased to another city have been dealt a blow after doubts were raised about their condition due to being left in œcold storage in Spain for more than a year.
• Running trams to Princes Street £60m cheaperEDINBURGH residents will end up paying £60 million more for the truncated tram route approved earlier this week than they would for a line that extends all the way into the city centre, it was claimed yesterday.

Daily Express

• Stobart on the route to recoveryTRANSPORT firm Stobart Group is on course for higher half-year profits despite being tested by consumers changing their buying habits as household budgets are squeezed.
• EasyJet flies into new rowA ROW between easyJet and its largest shareholder and founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou took off again yesterday after the airline's deputy chairman Sir David Michels quit his post instead of facing a vote on his future at a shareholders meeting.

Mail Online

• Cheap train fares axed as rail operator claims it will ease overcrowdingThis is despite the fact that cheap advance tickets are used by rail companies to justify large price increases for their more flexible fare options.

Birmingham Mail

• Birmingham train derailment causes travel delays across the region TRAIN services from Birmingham New Street to Leamington Spa are facing delays after freight trail was derailed in the early hours of this morning.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Teens “risked lives” trying to walk to Prestatyn on rail line TWO teens who tried to walk along a railway line were warned they could have put their own and others’ lives at risk.

Derby Telegraph

• Explosive new facts could be unearthed in train-deal inquiry THERE was a time when world leaders were desperate to win Rupert Murdoch's support before elections. He was a man before whose might Prime Ministers trembled.
• Colleagues all over world set to support rail workers facing axe BOMBARDIER workers at factories across the globe are expected to pledge their support for colleagues in Derby who are facing redundancy.

Liverpool Post

• Stobart Group expects to better last year’s interim profit levels STOBART Group, the Warrington-based logistics and biomass business, said it expects to deliver pre-tax profits ahead of last year’s interim levels, in a trading update today.

London Evening Standard

• Carnival to be big test for policeScotland Yard faces its biggest public order test since the riots during an unprecedented security operation at the Notting Hill Carnival.

Northern Echo

• Durham congestion charge returns next week DURHAM™S congestion charge returns next week, with council chiefs urging businesses and residents to be ready for the change.

Other Regional Press

• Talks leave train jobs in the balance A TOP-level hearing will debate a massive £1.4bn Government contract set to create 300 jobs in South Tyneside. German-owned Siemens, which has plants in Hebburn, has been named the preferred bidder for the Thameslink train carriage project.
• Jack Straw gets on his bike for cycle initiative JACK Straw set the wheels of an initiative to get more people on their bikes in motion in Witton Park yesterday.
• 5% pay offer for First TransPennine train drivers after strike action halted A BITTER pay row which led to strike action and disruption for Huddersfield rail commuters looks to have been settled.
• It™s all aboard to help keep Waverley afloatFor more than six decades, the Waverley has carried tens of thousands of families Doon The Watter on summer trips.
• Capital™s tram chaos as route to airport halvedEdinburgh™s beleaguered trams project was dealt a hammer blow after Labour and Tory councillors rejected a council-backed rescue plan and voted to build a loss-making route just half the length of the one originally proposed.
• Glasgow gets air link to DonegalGlasgow Airport has been given another boost with the news that an airline is introducing flights to Donegal.

Global Rail News

• Train speeds in Victoria set to increase following upgradesPassenger train speeds between Ballarat and Maryborough will significantly increase later this year following the completion of level crossing upgrades, Member for Western Victoria Simon Ramsay ...
• Bank holiday weekend rail travel updateFirst Capital Connect has said it is running services as normal between London and Luton Airport Parkway for Luton Airport this bank holiday weekend. However, chartered ...
• VTG announces solid half-year resultsThe Hamburg wagon hire and rail logistics company VTG Aktiengesellschaft saw a continued upward trend in business in the first half of 2011. Revenue for the ...

Aviation Industry

• Edinburgh Airport Launches Survey of Scottish BusinessEdinburgh Airport is today (Friday) launching a survey of the Scottish business community on what that sector requires from Scotland™s largest airport.
• Virgin warns of £1.7 billion threat to UK economyA lack of expansion at the UK™s main airports will have a chilling effect on the UK economy, according to analysis of new government figures by Virgin Atlantic

Green Miscellany

• The bicycle tyre that is self-inflating A new design of self-inflating bicycle tyre promises to do away with the need to ever carry a pump. The PumpTire design draws air through a valve into a thin tube, called a lumen, which runs around outside of the tyre. As the wheels turns, the air inside the lumen is forced into the tyre and inner tube. The rider can even alter the tyre pressure with a simple adjustment to a dial on the handlebars.read more

Other News Sources

• Bombardier's Thameslink contract loss raises Brits’ hackles MONTREAL - It hasn’t made any noise this side of the pond, but a rail contract Bombardier Inc. lost in Britain has stirred up outrage and an honest-to-goodness yellow journalism campaign in that bastion of restraint, the English tabloid press. Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Bombardier+Thameslink+contract+loss+raises+Brits+hackles/5315046/story.html#ixzz1WDFbcsuY