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

Thursday, 15 December 2011

BBC News

• TfL's land sell-off Bill debatedLegislation which could give Transport for London (TfL) greater powers to sell land is debated in the House of Lords for the first time.
• Transport schemes get £850m boostThe government announces £854m in funding for 21 transport schemes across England, including £76.2m for an extension of the Metropolitan Line.
• Greening in 'Boris Island' clashTransport Secretary Justine Greening clashes with MPs about the proposal for a new airport outside London.
• Tube staff back Boxing Day strikeTube drivers vote to strike on four days, including Boxing Day, after demanding triple pay and a day off for working on the bank holiday.
• OFT to study car insurance costsThe cost of motor insurance in the UK is to be investigated fully by the Office of Fair Trading.
• Business backs high speed rail network A high speed rail network should extend to Scotland if it is to reap economic benefits, according to a survey.

Department for Transport

• 21 local transport schemes get the go-aheadCommunities across England will benefit from £854m worth of investment in 21 local transport schemes, Transport Secretary Justine Greening said today. This is in addition to the 20 schemes, worth £574m, which were announced in the Autumn Statement at the end of last month.

Financial Times

• Ports: Terminals struggle to keep pace with tradeRobert Wright finds an uneven quality to infrastructure
• Shipping: that sinking feelingThe looming year-end provides a deadline for auditors and shipowners to decide on companies™ viability; the chances are many will sink

The Guardian

• Transport department: speedy cuts but still searching for efficiency The NAO says department did a reasonable job of making huge budget reductions, but still lacks a long-term strategy

The Herald

• Hike in motor premiums sparks fair-trading inquiry Fair-trading chiefs have launched a study into private motor insurance following big hikes in premiums.
• Campaign to upgrade A83 A CAMPAIGN has been launched demanding the Scottish Government takes urgent action to improve the rapidly deteriorating main road from Argyll into central Scotland.

The Telegraph

• Rail inspectors don't know how to handle fare-dodgers A 'Big Man' chucked a teenager off a ScotRail train, but perhaps the real problem was the ticket inspector.
• Airline offers chance to pick who you sit next toTravelling alone on an aircraft can be a lottery. But now the Dutch airline, KLM, is offering passengers the chance to pick who they sit next to.
• Tube drivers to walk out on Boxing DayTube passengers are facing a wave of strikes in a dispute over train drivers demand for extra pay on Boxing Day.

Mail Online

• £50,000-a-year Tube drivers' Boxing Day strike: after their demands for triple pay are turned downTube drivers whose salary is set to rocket to more than £50,000 a year came under fire yesterday for planning a four-day strike over pay.

The Mirror

• Bombardier women explain their hurt at Government's betrayalFor Ann Coyle work was her life and her colleagues were her family, so when she was laid off she admits having thoughts of ending it all.

ATOC

• Train companies respond to National Audit Office report on reducing DfT costsResponding to the National Audit Office report on reducing Department for Transport costs,...

Network Rail

• STUDY SHOWS INVESTMENT IN RAIL STATIONS BOOSTS PROPERTY PRICES BY A THIRD
• NETWORK RAIL CLOSES 500th LEVEL CROSSING

London Evening Standard

• Tube workers to stage four strikesLondon Underground workers are to stage four strikes, including one on Boxing Day, in a row over bank holiday pay.

Metro

• Tube drivers vote for Boxing Day strike with three other walkouts plannedLondon Underground train drivers have voted to go on strike on Boxing Day in a dispute over holiday pay, the Aslef union has announced.
• Christmas holiday railway chaos as networks set to shut for 60 hoursBritain faces a Christmas holiday railway shutdown with virtually no trains for almost 60 hours from 5pm on Christmas Eve.

Newcastle Journal

• Durham Tees Valley Airport to be sold DURHAM Tees Valley Airport is to be sold - prompting fears by one local MP that it could ultimately close.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Inverness Airport to beef up security in anti-terror moveThe potential threat of a terrorism attack similar to that experienced at Glasgow Airport has prompted Inverness Airport to draw up plans for a traffic exclusion zone in front the terminal.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Decision delay on Leeds trolleybus sparks angerLeeds will have to wait until January to hear the fate of its plans to build a £250m trolleybus system.

Yorkshire Post

• HS2 is the line to nowhere for the North From: Samuel Fisher, director, Yorkshire Against HS2. AS Transport Minister Justine Greening delays her decision on HS2, it appears she may have significant reservations about the proposal.
• Soaring cost of car insurance leads to inquiryThe cost of motor insurance is to be officially investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after it found premiums increased by nine per cent between January and September 2011.
• ˜Pain for gain™ predicted as roadworks startA six-month programme of roadworks is due to start on the A64 to try to ease traffic in a historic North Yorkshire market town blighted by congestion.

Northants Evening Telegraph

• Minister says that A14 work getting underway Initial work on a scheme to widen the A14 Kettering Bypass will start immediately, the roads minister has said.

Bus and Coach.com

• London cleans up Euro 3 busesUp to 1,000 buses in London are to be fitted selective catalytic reduction filters at a cost of £10million to reduce pollution.
• Buses on the margin in Welsh policyBuses feature only marginally in the Welsh government™s prioritised National Transport Plan, published this week.
• London ends artic operationLondon™s last articulated buses have now come out of service.
• £50million to support Better Bus AreasA £50million Better Bus Areas fund has been launched by the Department for Transport to encourage partnership working between operators and local authorities in urban areas in England.
• Stagecoach fined after depot accidentStagecoach™s Yorkshire Traction subsidiary has been fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £8,473 in costs after pleading guilty to two offences under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.
• Scales heads down underNeil Scales is leaving Merseytravel, the Merseyside PTE, to take up the post of chief executive of TransLink, the public transport authority in Brisbane, Australia.
• Motts rescues Crusader businessMotts Leisure, the holiday arm of Motts Coaches of Aylesbury, has taken over the operations of Crusader Holidays of Clacton-on-Sea.
• Arriva exits Scotland with sale to McGill™sArriva is to pull out of Scotland.

Campaign for Better Transport

• Parking or decent shopping - what really matters for the high street13 December: Mary Portas has today delivered her report to the government on how to save the high street. It's got lots of good ideas - but will ministers just focus on a mistaken belief that free car parking is all that matters? read more
• How to reduce the need to travel13 December: Campaign for Better Transport has launched its Campaigner™s Guide to Reducing the Need to Travel just as the Government™s proposed planning changes would all but abandon this crucial planning principle. read more
• Go ahead for Norwich, whilst Hastings is spared14 December: The Norwich road got the go-ahead today, but Hastings will instead get a review of alternative options. read more

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Government approves £854m of local transport projectsThe government has allocated more than £854 million of funding for 21 local transport schemes, in addition to the 20 projects announced in last month's Autumn Statement. Among the recipients of the state investment are the expansion of park and ride sites, improvements to bus stops and bus priority measures in Bath, and the construction of a 1.8-mile single-carriageway road in Beverley. A stringent assessment process has been conducted to ensure that value for money is offered by each of the successful projects. Transport secretary Justine Greening insisted the national ro...

Global Rail News

• FirstGroup provides £10k Christmas cash boost to Save the ChildrenThe UK™s largest transport operator, FirstGroup, has revealed it has donated £10,000 this Christmas to its national charity partner, Save the Children. This brings its total ...
• Glasgow Subway celebrates 115 years of servicePassengers travelling by Subway on Wednesday, 14th December are in for a number of special treats as the network celebrates its 115th birthday. The day-long celebration ...
• Ely & Liverpool Street stations host train naming ceremoniesTo mark the completion of its service upgrade and improved West Anglia timetable, National Express East Anglia (NXEA) has named two of its new Class 379 ...
• New Street investment will ˜boost™ Birmingham™s economyNetwork Rail has published research into the economic value of investment in railway stations. It confirms that station investment in projects such as the redevelopment of ...
• New services for Hope Valley lineStarting this week, rail passengers on the Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield now have more services to choose from. Transport for Greater Manchester, in ...
• Crossrail™s first tunnel boring machine unveiledEurope™s largest construction project has unveiled the first of eight, 1,000 tonne tunnel boring machines (TBM) that will construct the new Crossrail tunnels under central London. ...
• Rail users to benefit from multi-million pound boost to stationsWork is underway to carry out improvements to upgrade five commuter stations, on the line from London to Southend under a multi-million pound investment programme. The ...
• Tube drivers to strike on Boxing DayThe union Aslef has said its members have voted ‘overwhelmingly to take action on Boxing Day’ in a row over pay. The union demanded triple pay ...

Railnews

• New High Speed rail plans unveiled for Scotland The Scottish Government has unveiled its vision for a new High Speed project today, which sets out a plan for a line starting from Scotland rather than London.
• Major rail schemes included in £854m DfT investment The long-awaited Croxley rail link in Watford and an upgrade of the Coventry to Nuneaton line are among several rail projects which are included in a new package of 21 transport schemes worth £854 million, which has been announced by the Department for Transport.
• DfT jumps the gun over Nottingham trams decision A government statement which said that the construction of two new Nottingham tram routes can now begin, and confirmed a grant worth up to £371 million, was issued 'prematurely'. It's now been revealed that talks on the settlement are actually still under way.

Green Miscellany

• Bicycle beats snowboard in downhill race Bicycles have won races against horses, cars and even aircraft, and now a mountain bike has beaten a snowboard in a race down a snow-covered mountain side. read more

Other News Sources

• Durham Tees Valley Airport put up for sale Peel Airports Limited has announced it is to sell its majority shareholding that it holds in the airport, based in County Durham.
• New Life for Scotland’s Oldest Operational Railway Station New life is being breathed intoScotland’s oldest operational railway station at Broughty Ferry – with nine more trains calling daily from Monday 12 December, 2011.
• RMT ramps up fight against all-out assault on Scottish railwaysRAIL UNION RMT will be out in force at key Scottish railway stations tomorrow (15th December) in the fight to stop the fragmentation and destruction of rail services and jobs in the wake of the launch of a consultation by the Scottish government.
• Railway bridge is ready to rollREADING has been given a glimpse of the biggest transformation of the town's railway system for generations.
• News from John Biggs: Outrage As Blackfriars Pedestrian Crossing Removed 14 December, 2011  Local London Assembly member John Biggs has described Transport for London's removal of an important pedestrian crossing as a "monumental error".  TfL apparently removed the crossing over New Bridge Street last weekend. The crossing is at a natural crossing point and may result in more pedestrians being hurt or killed by cars, lorries and motorbike, John Biggs said. Local London Assembly member, John Biggs said: œThe crossing at ne...
• Publish London™s most dangerous roads for cyclists, Assembly urges Mayor 14 December, 2011 - 15:50 The London Assembly today called for the publication of the capital's most dangerous roads and junctions for cyclists and for a full review of design safety at each these junctions. Expressing their deep regret for the deaths of cyclists on London's roads, Assembly Members pointed out their concern that some deaths could have been avoided if the roads were designed more safely. 360-house-thumb.jpg Yes ...
• Mark Schwab appointed new Star Alliance CEOThe Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance has appointed Mark Schwab to head the Star Alliance central organisation, based in Frankfurt, Germany as its new Chief Executive. Schwab comes from...