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

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

BBC News

• Snow gates to be fitted on roadSnow gates are to be fitted on parts of an exposed road between South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester in a bid to stop drivers using the route in bad weather.
• Blackfriars Tube station reopensA London Underground station closed for nearly three years for engineering work reopens.
• Stagecoach invests in new busesStagecoach says it will spend £60m building almost 400 new buses in the UK to comply with European emission standards.
• Kingfisher Airlines shares tumbleShares in India's Kingfisher Airlines fall 20% ahead of talks between the troubled carrier and India's aviation authorities.
• Oil price hits eight-month highThe price of oil reaches its highest level since June due to tensions in Iran, pushing up the cost of fuel.

The Guardian

• Inspirational northern bus expert dies in Lake District mountain fall The north has lost a leading figure in public transport and charitable work with the death of Peter Huntley in a mountaineering accident in the Lake District.

The Herald

• Scots passport controls rowEurope Minister David Liddington became embroiled in a war of words yesterday over whether an independent Scotland would need passport controls at the English Border.
• Ryanair to cut Scots routesRYANAIR'S expansion at Edinburgh Airport is to be thrown into reverse today as the no-frills airline announces cuts to its summer schedule.

The Telegraph

• Boris Johnson: Blackfriars Station is as clean as a Swiss maternity wardMayor of London Boris Johnson compares the redeveloped and newly reopened Blackfriars Station to a Scandinavian airport and a Swiss maternity ward.

Mail Online

• Budget airlines pocketing £265,000 a DAY in rip off debit and credit card feesRyanair, perhaps the most notorious of all for hidden extras, is among the worst offenders, charging an eye-watering £48 in fees for return flights, booked by a family of four, on both credit and debit cards.
• Now the French say holidaymakers have to carry a breathalyser kit in their carThe gadgets, designed so that drivers can test themselves to ensure they are under drink-drive limits, are the latest addition to a list of rules for driving on the other side of the Channel.
• Strip OAPs of their free bus passes to save £1bn a year, says leading think tankThe Social Market Foundation argues that OAP travel passes - which costs an estimated £1 billion a year - was a low-priority and does nothing to improve the economy.
• Is this the country's most boring coach trip? Four-hour tour shows trippers the sights and delights¿ of the M25The bus company running the £15-per-head trip announced yesterday that it was adding extra dates to meet ‘huge’ demand.
• Border checks have been 'suspended regularly and applied irregularly since 2007', admits Home SecretaryA damning report found up to half a million Eurostar passengers arriving from French tourist resorts, including Disneyland Paris, were waved into Britain without facing any anti-terror checks.

The Mirror

• Call to scrap free bus travel for pensioners The Social Market Foundation said the £1billion cost of the passes did nothing to help the economy

Edinburgh Evening News

• Council chiefs rule out HGV ban when tram startsTransport chiefs have ruled out a ban on lorries in parts of the city centre.

London Evening Standard

• Ken should admit his lower fares vow is a sham, says Johnson campKen Livingstone was today urged to
• 'TfL needs to take more care over its deals with sponsors'Transport for London was today told to

Metro

• Blackfriars tube station reopens following three-year upgrade projectBlackfriars underground station is back open for business following the successful completion of a large-scale, three-year redevelopment project.

Wales Online

• Wales urged to improve transport links and international profile by cross party committee WALES must urgently improve its transport links, international profile and levels of entrepreneurship in order to rescue the nation’s under-performing economy, a hard-hitting cross-party

Bucks Free Press

• School bus fees 'may deter poorer pupils from grammars'LESS wealthy families will be hardest hit when changes to free school transport come in, a leading grammar school headteacher says.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Transport group Stagecoach invests £60m in ˜greener™ busesTRANSPORT group Stagecoach said today it planned to invest around £60million in nearly 400 “greener” vehicles for its bus and coach fleet.

Reading Evening Post

• On the Reading Buses Reading Buses (RB) users will start to see a few different faces on their routes from next week as the newest recruits get on the road.

Other Regional Press

• Call for transport group to lift threat over city stationsANGRY councillors called on Transport Scotland to scrap a review which could lead to the closure of nine Glasgow rail stations.
• Yorkshire rail investment programme hinges on Northern HubTreasury commitment needed to unlock up to £12bn of economic benefits in Yorkshire.
• Grand Central wins plaudits from rail users’ groupA TRAIN operator running services from Brighouse to London has been praised by a rail users’ group.
• Vital rail link restoredBlackfriars Tube station in central London reopened on Monday...

Bus and Coach.com

• Scrap concessions callThe Social Market Foundation, which describes itself as œa leading cross-party think tank�, is calling on the government to scrap free bus travel for senior citizens among a range of other cuts.
• High fuel costs drive modal switchThe high cost of fuel is driving more motorists out of their cars and onto public transport according to Trent Barton.
• Go-Ahead buys Carousel BusesGo-Ahead is to buy Carousel Buses of High Wycombe.
• £60million Stagecoach orderStagecoach has ordered 390 vehicles worth around £60million for its operations outside London.
• Peter Huntley dies in Lake District fallPeter Huntley (54), chairman of the TAS consultancy and former managing director of Go North East, has died in a fall in the Lake District.

Global Rail News

• Teenagers arrested on suspicion of railway cable theftFour suspected teenage railway cable thieves were arrested on Friday, 17 February 2012 by British Transport Police (BTP) officers in Leeds, as the fight against cable and metal theft continues. The four male teenagers, one aged 15, the others 16, were arrested close to the railway line in York Road, Leeds, under suspicion of attempting [...]
• Skills-building features at MAINTEC 2012MAINTEC 2012 will provide maintenance and health & safety professionals with a valuable opportunity to be challenged and brush up on their skills at this year™s show. From interactive hands-on challenges to personalised advice clinics, strategic workshops and insightful presentations, the event provides the visitors the chance to immerse themselves within the industry and learn [...]
• Birse Metro awarded Tube cooling contractBirse Metro has been awarded a contract to provide a Water Cooling System at London Underground’s Oxford Circus station. The system will serve 14 new Passenger Air Handling Units (PAHUs) located on six platforms at the station. The contract, part of the ˜Cooling the Tube™ programme, includes the supply of new mechanical and electrical equipment [...]
• DB Schenker Rail wins two major Rail Business AwardsDB Schenker Rail UK won two major categories at the Rail Business Awards held in London on the evening of Thursday 16 February 2012. The work to open High Speed 1, the UK™s only European sized rail route, for rail freight, combined with the successful introduction of direct rail freight services from Poland to the [...]
• Rail worker foils fire tankerA railway worker has been praised for helping avert a disaster. A burning oil tanker had crashed into the side of a bungalow and was at risk of exploding, endangering a nearby primary school. Darren Fletcher jumped into the cab of the burning oil tanker and reversed it away from a house. ˜The valves on [...]
• Football stars back further education for rail staffNewcastle United football heroes John Beresford and Joe Allon took the controls of an Intercity 125 simulator at Newcastle Central to publicise further education courses available for rail staff in the city. Says John Beresford, ˜The simulator is very realistic, right down to the landmarks alongside the track leaving Newcastle. It™s a real eye-opener to [...]
• Skipton ExpansionHere at the rail engineer, we like to report on the major infrastructure projects on Britain™s railways – the grand schemes, multi-million pound undertakings that will have significant benefits to the entire railway network. These often involve several major contractors, hundreds of engineers, and usually some great photography! However, we shouldn™t fool ourselves that this [...]
• Mayor of London marks completion of London Overground track layingThe Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, recently donned his hard hat to ‘ensure the last rail was put firmly in place’ in the final link of the London Overground orbital network. His visit marked completion of the track laying phase of the project. The new extension across south London will complete the network, providing a [...]
• Blackfriars Underground station reopensBlackfriars Underground station reopened this morning to accommodate a 60% increase in footfall. The station has been completely rebuilt over the last three years. New lifts and escalators make the station easier to access and a curved glass façade floods the spacious new entrance hall with natural light. The upgrade is the latest in a [...]
• Rio Tinto to run driverless trains by 2014Rio Tinto will run the world’s first automated long-distance heavy-haul rail network, with a $518 million investment in driverless trains. The first driverless train will be launched in 2014, with the AutoHaulTM automated train programme scheduled for completion a year later. AutoHaulTM is being pioneered as part of the automation component of Rio Tinto’s Mine [...]

London TravelWatch

• London TravelWatch welcomes the reopening of Blackfriars stationLondon TravelWatch welcomes the reopening of Blackfriars station

Railway Gazette

• Toulouse metro extension public consultationFRANCE: This month is due to see initial public consultation for a 5∙2 km extension of Toulouse metro Line B from Ramonville to Labège, adding five stations to serve growing industrial districts to the southeast of the city. Expected to cost around €370m excluding rolling stock, the fully-automated VAL extension would mostly run on viaduct, apart from a cut-and-cover tunnel under the Canal du Midi just east of the current terminus. Services would run every 5 min at peak times, attracting between 30 000 and 40 000 passengers/day. Local transport authority Tisséo envisages that prelimina...

Aviation Industry

• Frankfurt flights hit by new strikeLatest walkout forces cancellations of more than 200 flights

Green Miscellany

• MPs to debate cycling safety More than 25,000 people have so far pledged their support for the Times™s Cities Fit for Cycling Campaign and a parliamentary debate has now been scheduled in Westminster Hall for Thursday 23 February. read more
• Thief-proof bicycle lights According to the inventors of the Defender, a bicycle light designed to stay permanently locked to the handlebars, their target market is potentially huge; 1 in 3 city cyclists have had their lights stolen and 80 per cent frequently forget their lights at home.read more

Other News Sources

• Crossrail and London™s major future rail projects on the agenda 20 February, 2012 - 09:39 The London Assembly Transport Committee will tomorrow question rail chiefs about progress on Crossrail[1] and other major projects and upgrades intended to improve rail services and boost capacity. From 10am: Crossrail Committee Members will question the following guests about issues including: timescales and risks; procurement and supplier capacity; the impact of construction work on local residents and businesses; apprenticeships and the skills legacy; and the challenges of linking Crossrail to existing servic...
• Major London station reopens after three yearsCapital's mayor Boris Johnson visits reopened Blackfriars Underground station