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

Monday, 30 April 2012

BBC News

• Northern Ireland Railway's farewell to old trains It is the end of the line for a series of Northern Ireland trains.
• Bakerloo line train hits bulge in tunnel A London Underground train has hit a bulge in a tunnel wall on the Bakerloo line leading to severe delays.

Financial Times

• BA calls on adviser to step downThe airline™s concerns over Lord Jones™s role at the company after joining the Flybe board highlight its exposure to short-haul routes

The Guardian

• UKBA accused of covering up airport delays Passengers handed 'apology leaflets' after having to wait up to three hours before clearing passport control at Heathrow

The Independent

• Holidaymakers get improved protection, but MPs want more MPs have criticised reforms aimed at strengthening consumer protection for holidaymakers which come into force today, warning that they don't go far enough.
• Green rating of British bus firms leaves Google and Apple behindBritish bus companies have a better ethical record than new-tech giants Apple and Google, according to a global-sustainability league table published today.
• Heathrow ordered to stop apologisingHeathrow airport has been ordered to stop handing out leaflets to passengers that apologise for delays at immigration.Related StoriesSudan holds British man on borderLondoners' fury at MoD plans to put Olympic missiles on roofsUK faces floods and gale-force winds as wet weather forecast to continue all weekTrending: Why we're cool for catsOvercharging for energy costs some households £300 a year, study finds

The Scotsman

• Cyclists pedal strong views to Holyrood Transport Minister Keith Brown has backed calls to make Scotland a “cycle-friendly nation” ahead of today’s Pedal on Parliament.
• Fifty years after rail track fell silent, trams offer new lease of life IT WAS popular with commuters and those who liked to get home for lunch, but that wasn’t enough to save one of Edinburgh’s most significant railways, which shut down 50 years ago today.
• Heathrow gagged over queues leaflet HEATHROW Airport has been ordered by the Border Force to stop handing out leaflets to passengers acknowledging the “very long delays” at immigration.
• Loganair is like no other airline – where dogs scurry under seats for take-off, geese scatter across runways and the view from the window catches at the heart IT IS 16 April, exactly 897 years since the martyrdom of Magnus, Orkney’s patron saint, and the puffins, as if in acknowledgement of the anniversary, have chosen this day to return to their sea stack off Westray after months in the north Atlantic. Meanwhile, Captain Stuart Linklater, a senior pilot with Loganair, lifts the nose of the small plane known as the Islander from the runway at Kirkwall and plunges once more into his own natural environment – the cool blue air above these green islands.
• Under-21s spend money on phones rather than stumping up for car licence YOUNG people in Scotland are increasingly turning their backs on driving because of the soaring cost – and the allure of their smartphones.

The Telegraph

• Bordering on farce The chaos at Britain’s airports, where passengers trying to enter the UK have been queuing for up to three hours at immigration control desks, has gone on for too long.
• Aviation flies the flag for British industry “The Prime Minister did not need to go to Asia, he could have been here today,” said Willie Walsh. “It is a great testament to UK engineering.”
• Heathrow at 'breaking' point as Border Force struggles to cope, leaked memos warn The Home Office has tried to ban Heathrow from informing the public about the full extent of delays at the airport, suggest leaked emails obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

Press Association

• Heathrow gagged over queues apology Heathrow airport has been ordered by the Border Force to stop handing out leaflets to passengers acknowledging the "very long delays" at immigration.
• 'Spurious' whiplash claims tackled Justice Secretary Ken Clarke will set out plans to crack down on "spurious" whiplash claims that are inflating insurance premiums.

Mail Online

• One in three households squeezed on travel costs as soaring prices mean families spend 10% of income on transport Soaring petrol prices and rail fares have plunged 8.2million households into ’transport poverty’, figures reveal.

London Evening Standard

• No further funding proposed for rail cable theft task force The Government has ruled out any immediate further funding in the fight to combat cable theft on the railways, it was revealed today.

Northern Echo

• Appeal by Shildon rail museum for foreign style trains A RAILWAY museum is keen to speak to anyone with models of Sierra Leone model locomotives it can display.

Sheffield Star

• Sheffield rail firms count cost of fare-dodge prosecutions RAIL firms are prosecuting just a few hundred people a year for fare dodging in South Yorkshire each year - despite Government claims £2.3 million a year is being lost due to the problem at Sheffield alone.

Wales Online

• 'Games role' for ex-border officers Retired immigration officers will be brought back to ease airport border control queues during the Olympics, it has been reported.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Rail operator vows to get ahead of GamesRAIL operator East Coast is urging Peterborough people with tickets to the 2012 Games to book now and take advantage of special fares on offer.

Other Regional Press

• Move to re-open Saltford railway station goes to ParliamentA petition signed by more than 2,000 people calling for the reopening of Saltford railway station has been presented in Parliament.
• Rail ticket office is set to be axed A DONCASTER town’s major railway station is set to lose its ticket office, according to a leaked government email.

Other News Sources

• Complacent Thameslink report response ignores threat to British manufacturing buried in rail strategy – Maria Eagle Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, commenting on the Government’s response to the Transport Select Committee report into the Thameslink rolling stock procurement, said:
• Campaign to bring railway station back to Beattock A campaign to bring a railway station back to Beattock in Dumfries and Galloway has been launched. It was closed 40 years ago as part of the electrification of the west coast mainline.
• Rise in passenger numbers for Corby Railway Station Corby Railway Station is celebrating its third anniversary and a big rise in passenger numbers. Since the station re-opened three years ago the number of people travelling has gone up 20% above the national average of journeys made by train in the country.
• London Gateway to build new rail terminal Dubai: DP World London Gateway has awarded Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering a contract to build a rail terminal capable of handling the longest trains in the UK, the company said in a statement.
• Network Rail calls for action on metal theft Transport bosses are urging the government to carry out a full reform of scrap metal legislation to combat cable theft on the railways.