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

Thursday, 03 November 2011

BBC News

• Gloucester Railway Triangle plans 'not lizard friendly' Concerns have been raised by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust over a plan to redevelop a brown field site in Gloucester.
• Watercress Line gets Kings Cross 'Harry Potter' bridge A footbridge at London's King's Cross station that featured in the Harry Potter films is to be reinstalled on a Hampshire steam railway.
• Lord Foster's Thames Estuary airport plan 'pie-in-the-sky' A plan for a four-runway airport in the Thames Estuary has been branded a "daft pie-in-the-sky" scheme.

Financial Times

• Theresa Villiers pulls out of Derby meetingThe government has risked a fresh fight with Derby after Theresa Villiers, rail minister, pulled out of a rail conference in the city at short notice to attend to constituency matters.
• Thames transport hub project unveiledThe Foster scheme could lead to the most radical overhaul of Britain's transport, logistics since the building of the railways

The Guardian

• Shipping emissions 'should be included in UK carbon targets' Carbon emissions from shipping should not be left to rise unchecked, warn the government's chief climate change advisers
• Lord Foster reveals £50bn Thames Hub project Ambitious Thames estuary plan to include international airport, railway and housing with new freight and energy infrastructure

The Herald

• Rail operators risk failing to meet targets on delays THE operators of Scotland’s rail services have been ordered to improve punctuality after warnings that targets for reducing delays are likely to be missed.
• Rail operators risk failing to meet targets on delaysTHE operators of Scotland™s rail services have been ordered to improve punctuality after warnings that targets for reducing delays are likely to be missed.

The Telegraph

• Still hoping to re-privatise East Coast trains in 2013, Mrs Greening? With these numbers, good luck finding a buyer The new transport secretary, Justine Greening, has her hands full with the railways. The controversial £34 billion HS2 project and the 8 per cent rail fair increase are her most prominent concerns. But in the long run, these pale in comparison to the East Coast Main Line.
• Former Gurkhas defending rail network from metal thieves The use of the Nepalese ex-soldiers was the latest evidence of the havoc being wrought by the criminal gangs who have targeted railway track, war memorials and churches over the past year.
• Network Rail faces fine threat for poor performanceNetwork Rail faces a multi-million pound fine for failing to meet punctuality targets. The Office of Rail Regulation said, despite warnings earlier this year, the infrastructure company had continued to deteriorate.
• Clampers charge lorry driver £1,200 The fee was demanded from a driver who had parked his lorry while waiting to make a delivery of flour at Tilbury, Essex.

Mail Online

• Stolen railway cable worth just £140 causes more than £46,000 in train delays and repairsThieves on a line at Crossgates, Leeds, left commuters stuck for a miserable 50 hours in 160 stationary trains, it has been revealed.
• Lord Foster unveils £50bn plans for Thames Estuary airport that will handle 150 million passengers a yearThe Thames Hub, which would be more than twice as busy as Heathrow, would be on the Isle of Grain in Kent, around half an hour from central London.

The Mirror

• Ship emissions 'must be in targets'The UK's share of emissions from international shipping should be included in targets to slash the country's greenhouse gases, the Government's climate advisers have said.
• Bombardier jobs: Theresa Villiers accused of being a coward after pulling out of summit at the last minute“COWARDLY” Transport Minister Theresa Villiers has pulled out at the last minute of a summit with train workers facing redundancy.

ATOC

• Train companies respond to ORR letter on Network Rail performanceResponding to the ORR’s letter to Network Rail on their performance,...

Airwise News

• Action urged on ships' carbon emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping should be included in the UK's climate change budgets, the Committee on Climate Change has recommended.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Rail group claims Abbeyhill can form part of £1bn project RAIL campaigners say that a £1 billion project to improve train links between Edinburgh and Glasgow provides the best opportunity in 50 years to revive a mothballed station in Abbeyhill.

Liverpool Post

• Merseyrail new managing director unveiled as Maarten SpaargarenMERSEYSIDE’S rail network has a new managing director after Maarten Spaargaren was unveiled as taking the top job at Merseyrail at the end of this month.

London Evening Standard

• Boris backs world's biggest airport on estuary islandBoris Johnson hails plans by architect Lord Foster to build the world's biggest airport in the Thames Estuary
• Ship emissions 'must be in targets'The UK's share of emissions from international shipping should be included in targets to slash the country's greenhouse gases, the Government's climate advisers have said.

Yorkshire Post

• Operators boosted by switch to public transport TRAVELLERS are ditching their cars and turning to public transport, boosting sales at bus and train operators Stagecoach and National Express.
• How a £140 cable delayed 160 Leeds trainsTHE theft of a length of railway cable from Leeds, worth just £140, caused over £46,000 in train delays and repairs, police revealed today.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Airport technology is a fly-away successTHE airport systems business of Northrop Grumman Corporation, based in Market Deeping, near Peterborough, has received an innovation award from the Inter Airport Europe 2011 exhibition for its Airport Realtime Collaboration (ARC) technology and services capability.

Other Regional Press

• Cash finally found for train station overhaul Almost half a million pounds has been secured to bring Leyland’s ageing railway station up-to-date.
• 'It's not pie in the sky'That from internationally-acclaimed architect Lord Foster, who plans to build an international airport at Grain.
• Picture special: Plans for airport twice as busy as HeathrowThis is the amazing first glimpse of a multi-billion pounds airport - including the UK's busiest rail station - which could be built in Kent!
• ˜Nightmare™ road will be open by next weekROAD repairs which have been branded a ’nightmare’ by council chiefs are scheduled to be open to two lanes of traffic by Monday.

Global Rail News

• East Coast sponsors York™s first short film festivalEast Coast is giving people yet another great reason to travel to York – with the arrival of the city™s first ever short film festival, Aesthetica. ...
• Lafarge wins Network Rail ballast contractGranite from Lafarge will be keeping the country™s railways on the right track for the next five years, after the company secured a prestigious multi-million pound ...
• South West Trains launches ˜Rainbow Day™ at AndoverSouth West Trains is offering passengers travelling from Andover on Saturday 5th November an opportunity to try the train for the bargain price of only £10 ...
• Network Rail™s ˜Investment in the North™ exhibition goes to MerseysideNetwork Rail will be showcasing plans to improve the rail network across the North at a series of exhibitions in Merseyside this month. Network Rail™s vision ...
• Greater Manchester™s transport leaders meet Parliamentary peersTransport leaders from Greater Manchester met with their Parliamentary peers yesterday to promote investment in the region™s key projects and policies. Transport for Greater Manchester™s annual ...
• Southern™s Heather Neely wins major RailStaff AwardSouthern Train Care Charge Hand, Heather Neely has won Depot Staff of the Year at the recent RailStaff Awards. Heather, who works at Southern™s Brighton Train ...
• Frost & Sullivan analyses London Underground upgradeThe London Underground (LU), one of the most prominent metro systems globally, is undergoing a major network upgrade programme. It is estimated that from 2011 to ...
• Blackfriars Bridge the world™s largest solar bridgeLondon™s biggest array of solar panels will top the new river-spanning Blackfriars station. Engineers are installing over 4,400 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels covering an area of ...
• Clegg backs HS2Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg has backed High Speed Two, saying it is essential as a boost for the economy. ˜I think it™s a good thing ...
• Driver of the secondDriver Paul Livings (pictured above) has beaten the record for a train travelling between London and Cambridge. Mr Livings shaved four seconds off the journey time ...
• Driver in the SkyA former train driver now a helicopter pilot with the Humberside Police, helped stop a train from ploughing into an abandoned car, left on a level ...

Aviation Industry

• The cost versus comfort conundrumSIA™s new low-cost subsidiary demonstrates yet again that space is the most precious commodity on any plane, writes Alex McWhirter