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

Thursday, 26 April 2012

BBC News

• £1.67m widened road opens in cityThe Madams Bank Road in Londonderry is opened after £1.67m improvement work.
• Tube cleaners may strike over payCleaners on London Underground are to be balloted for strikes in disputes over pay, pensions and benefits, a union says.
• Could congestion offer a road to economic growth?Could congestion offer a road to economic growth?
• Siemens cuts 2012 profit forecastGerman industrial giant Siemens cuts its full-year profit forecast for 2012 as losses continue in its wind power division.

Financial Times

• Public service deals unveiledCompanies have been invited to a Cabinet Office briefing where Francis Maude will present a five year pipeline of bid opportunities

The Telegraph

• Government to publish future train contracts to support UK manufacturersThe Government is to publish a pipeline of potential new rolling stock contracts to help support British manufacturers after the £1.5bn Thameslink controversy.
• Commuters face threat of inflation busting rare rises, despite greater rail efficiencyPassengers face inflation busting fare rises unless the Treasury agrees to pass on a share of the £1 billion a year efficiency savings made by the rail industry.
• Rail fares will be hard to keep down, admits Transport SecretaryLimiting next January's annual fare rise for train commuters may prove difficult, Transport Secretary Justine Greening has indicated.

Daily Express

• Heathrow gains but BAA at a lossAIRPORTS operator BAA said record passenger numbers at Heathrow had helped it lift first-quarter sales.

This is Money

• Monarch hikes credit card booking fees for flyersMonarch used to charge a £10 flat fee but now asks for £5 or 4 per cent of the cost of the total booking - whichever amount is higher.

ATOC

• Over nine million passengers expected to take the train over May Bank Holiday The vast majority of the nine million passengers expected to travel by rail over the bank holiday weekend (5 – 7 May) will be unaffected by improvement work,...

Network Rail

• HS1 LTD AND NETWORK RAIL AGREE NEW DEAL
• IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AND CAPACITY FOR HARROGATE RAIL LINE

Belfast Telegraph

• Aerospace boss lands major business gong A stalwart of Northern Ireland's third largest employer picked up one of the most prestigious awards at the 2012 Belfast Telegraph Business Awards last night. Related StoriesOwner of historic city building owes Ulster Bank over £20mStationery firm sold in £38m dealTesco's decline continuingIn Pictures: Belfast Telegraph Business Awards gala 2012Scrap your old website for discount for new one

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• ˜Smart™ travel pass gains momentum A £7 million plan to open up a new smartcard ticketing system to bus users across Bradford and neighbouring districts will go before transport authority members on Friday.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Date set for official opening of £35m Wrexham Industrial Estate Link road schemeA DATE has been set for the official opening of a £35m link road scheme.

Journal Live

• Go-Ahead points to solid trading PUBLIC transport giant Go-Ahead says trading so far this year has been 'solid' and it is confident it will meet its full year expectations.

Liverpool Post

• 35,000 people apply for 1,000 jobs at Jaguar Land Rover's Halewood plantENOUGH people to almost fill Everton’s Goodison Park or Liverpool’s Anfield stadium have applied for 1,000 new jobs at Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) Halewood car plant.

Manchester Evening News

• Living the dream: We take a ride on Boeing's 'game changing' 787 Dreamliner After landing in Manchester for the first time, the historic Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which has been hailed the greatest advance in flying since Concorde, went on a short test flight. M.E.N. reporter Alice McKeegan was one of just 40 special guests on board.

Sheffield Star

• Doncaster MP concerned for Thorne North station ticket officeDONCASTER MP Caroline Flint has written to Transport Secretary Justine Greening over concerns for the future of one of Doncaster’s railway ticket offices.

The York Press

• Survey reveals worst streets in York for cyclists THE most dangerous roads for cycling in York have been revealed through a national survey.

This Is Local London Network

• Saracens' coach limbers up for fourth marathon in a month Saracens coach Paul Gustard is limbering up as he prepares to tackle his fourth marathon in a month.
• Delays on Northern line due to earlier signal failure Commuters are experiencing delays on the Northern line due to an earlier signal failure at Tooting Bec.

Wales Online

• Transport secretary in warning over January rail fare rises Apr 25 2012 Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/2012/04/25/transport-secretary-in-warning-over-january-rail-fare-rises-91466-30835167/#ixzz1t7j1naKpLimiting next January's annual fare rise for train commuters may prove difficult, Transport Secretary

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• HS2 spin doctors set to cost £1m say opponentsA team of spin doctors to promote the £32 billion high speed rail line is costing taxpayers more than £1 million, it was claimed today.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• West Yorkshire: Buses on road to Oyster-style transport cardsPlans to introduce London-style Oyster cards on West Yorkshire bus routes are expected to take a major step forward.

Northants Evening Telegraph

• Youngsters take the walking bus to schoolCHILDREN from a Corby school have been boarding a walking bus to help make their journey to and from school safer.

Other Regional Press

• The Post commented Railway station set to introduce car parking chargesCommuters using Nailsea and Backwell railway station will soon have to pay £1.50 a day to park their cars to catch the...
• Busway ˜good for the town™LUTON chartered surveyor Chris Harkin – a regular on popular BBC1 consumer programme The Cowboy Trap – says he’s tired of all the negative comments about the Luton Dunstable Busway.
• New flights to London for Aberdeen AirportNEW flights are to run between Aberdeen and London.

Campaign for Better Transport

• Still time to persuade Ministers to cut fares25 April: It's clear from interviews in today's papers with the Transport Secretary Justine Greening that the Government still hasn't made its mind up about next year's fare rises. read more

Global Rail News

• Have you seen the NEW RailStaff?Rail Media has launched a new and improved RailStaff this month. When we first started 15 years ago, staff could still roll up tabloid news papers and stuff them in outside pockets of old uniforms. Now new railway fashions “ even the police are upgrading “ means rail staff look smart and trim and there™s [...]
• New Street redevelopment continues with car park demolitionThe NCP car park above The Pallasades shopping centre is to close next month for demolition and rebuilding as part of the Birmingham New Street and Pallasades redevelopment. The car park, which dates from the 1970s, will be demolished and in its place a modern secure facility built to complement the redeveloped Pallasades centre and [...]
• Bombardier train ˜tested like aircraft™Bombardier is testing its upcoming high speed train ZEFIRO 380 on an Iron Bird test platform. Berner & Mattner has taken over design and implementation of the test cases for this platform. The Iron Bird method originates from the aerospace industry. Functional tests are performed in automated test suites on a model consisting of electronic [...]
• Priv Travel contact changesRetired railway staff wanting to check priv travel facilities can call Rail Staff Travel on 0800 652 1700, a dedicated free phone number. Based in London, the Rail Staff Travel team is on hand five days a week to answer queries from former rail staff and their families either by phone, e-mail or letter. The [...]
• Jelly beans for Railway ChildrenHungry passengers can now snack on jelly beans and raise money for charity at the same time. Thanks to the railway children charity the new brand of jelly beans is available at most Whistlestop station grocers. Corporate supporters, SSP, helped develop...
• Infrarail seminars: Ethernet Evolution or Revolution?On Wednesday 2 May at 12:30, Ray Lock, Technical Director at Westermo Ltd will be presenting ‘Ethernet Evolution or Revolution? Migrating Legacy Systems to IP Networks’ at Infrarail. Worldwide, there is a drive towards faster, longer and more frequent trains to run over existing infrastructure. To facilitate the increased capacity in the rail system it [...]
• Infrarail seminars: Dry Stack Retaining Walls “ Applications in the Rail IndustryOn Wednesday 2 May at 13:10, Tim Fields, Civil Engineering Technical Manager at Anderton Concrete Products Ltd will be presenting ‘Dry Stack Retaining Walls – Applications in the Rail Industry’ at Infrarail. The increase in the modernisation, re-development and new investment in the UK infrastructure has put the spotlight firmly on groundworks. This, in turn, [...]
• BART considers Bombardier as preferred bidderSan Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit District board is to consider Bombardier Transportation as the preferred bidder to build a new fleet of metro cars. BART staff is recommending that the Fleet of the Future next generation of rail cars be built by North American-based Bombardier because the company™s bid represents the ‘best combination of [...]

Transport for London

• Shortlisted bidders for the Bank Station Capacity Upgrade projectLondon Underground (LU) announced today the four bidding groups who have been shortlisted to go through the new Innovative Contractor Engagement (ICE) procurement process for the Bank Station Capacity Upgrade project.

Aviation Industry

• Kiss Sleep Goodbye Thanks to Singapore Airlines' New In-Flight WiFiThere's no way we're going to get to sleep on those overnight A380 flights now, as it sounds like in-flight WiFi is making its way to Singapore Airlines .
• US Airways: American Airlines merger would result in more than $1.2...US Airways executives said Wednesday that a merger with American Airlines would allow the combined airline to generate a combination of savings and revenue to avoid labor cuts as deep as those American has proposed.
• Boeing Delivers First Lufthansa 747-8 IntercontinentalBoeing has delivered the first 747-8 Intercontinental passenger airliner to Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
• Boeing 1Q profit surges; sees ˜strong and growing™ aircraft demand Boeing earned a net profit of $923 million in the first quarter, up 58% over $586 million in net income in the prior-year period, on a 30% jump in revenue to $19.38 billion.

Other News Sources

• London Southend Airport Extension ApprovedRochford Council have approved an extension to London Southend's Airport terminal creating over 300 jobs and extending the south-east’s aviation capacity.With the plans to extend Heathrow’s capacity with a third runway fading into the distance for the time being, the new extension at Southend could prove to be a popular solution to the region’s capacity problems. London Southend Airport opened its new terminal in February this year, boasting a speedy service for departing passengers with a maximum time of four minutes to get through security and arriving passengers with h...
• Parliament begins scrutiny of EU airport noise rules (News) European Commission plans to ease noise restriction measures around airports has been met with scepticism by the MEP in charge of the dossier in Parliament, who believes the EU executive is placing economic considerations above citizen's concerns. More »
• Crossrail maps out its supply chain Crossrail has committed itself to opening up work to construction apprentices and creating a level playing field for SMEs.
• Tube cleaners balloted for strike actionTUBE UNION RMT confirmed today that it is to begin balloting tube cleaners working for ISS and Initial for both strike action and action short of a strike in disputes over pay, pensions and benefits.
• London Gateway picks builder for rail terminal DP World has chosen Balfour Beatty to build a rail terminal at London Gateway, the deep-sea container port and logistics park that is being built on the north bank of the Thames, east of London
• Amadeus signs new deal with French rail firmSNCF agrees to become launch customer for new Amadeus Agent Track product

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