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

Saturday, 05 May 2012

BBC News

• Minister wants Jersey primary school children to use buses Jersey's transport minister wants more children to use buses to get to school to ease traffic congestion.
• Brighton's 20mph city-wide road plan gets support Plans to introduce a 20mph speed limit on every residential road apart from the main routes in Brighton and Hove are one step closer.
• Airport body scanners 'are safe'Passenger body scanners at Manchester Airport are safe, according to a report conducted by the European Commission.
• Scottish car sales outperform UKNew car registrations in Scotland outperformed the rest of the UK in the first four months of the year, new figures suggest.
• Prestwick passenger figures slidePrestwick Airport, which was put up for sale in March, sees passenger numbers fall by a third in the first quarter of 2012.
• Air France-KLM hit by fuel costsAirline group Air France-KLM reports a loss for the first three months of the year, after being hit by high fuel costs and a drop in cargo traffic.
• New car sales rise 3.3% in AprilNew car sales in the UK rose to 142,322 in April, up 3.3% from a year earlier, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says.
• Airport hopes to replace BMI BabyGeorge Best Belfast City Airport's chief executive says he hopes that by next week another airline will take the place of BMI Baby, which stops flying from the airport in June.

Financial Times

• Qantas defers delivery of A380sThe Australian carrier is cutting overseas investment and plans to add to domestic services as it faces greater rivalry from Virgin at home
• Aer Lingus to issue first dividend since flotationIrish flag-carrier aims to continue payouts to shareholders every year it makes an operating profit following growth in long-haul routes
• Air France-KLM reaffirms cost-cutting stanceEurope™s most indebted large airline warns politicians and unions that it will not back down on its plans to pare its bloated structure

The Herald

• Islands ferry service privatisedLIFELINE ferry services to the Orkney and Shetland islands will be taken over by private firm Ser-co after ministers announced it had won a six-year contract from state-owned rival Northlink.
• Problems at Prestwick as passengers shun airportTHE number of passengers travelling through Glasgow Prestwick airport has slumped to its lowest level in more than a decade in the wake of budget airline Ryanair cutting services
• Rail chiefs vow to improve data on train delaysRAIL passengers have been promised improved information about train delays following complaints about how problems were handled during recent severe winters.

The Scotsman

• Serco to takeover Orkney and Shetland ferry routes from Northlink NORTHLINK has lost its bid to retain the Scottish Government’s Northern Isles ferry contract to rivals Serco.

The Telegraph

• Existing hit squads doing little to tackle immigration delays A hit squad of Border Force officers sent to ease airport queues are sleeping on night shifts as well as spending much of the working day on coffee breaks and being shuttled around Heathrow on a bus, according to emails seen by The Daily Telegraph.
• Commuters forced to wait 60 minutes for train to depart because guard was eating sandwichCommuters were forced to wait an hour for their train to depart - because the guard was eating a sandwich on his

Daily Express

• Monarch eyes bmibaby routesMONARCH Airlines has unveiled plans to cash in on the looming demise of budget airline bmibaby. It said it would run services on 25 per cent of routes operated by bmibaby from the Midlands.

Mail Online

• Queen of the skies: The girl who became one of Britain's youngest female airline pilots aged just 25Kate Moran (pictured) fell in love with planes as a nine-year-old and has now successfully qualified as a pilot for Devon-based airline Flybe in an industry where fewer than five per cent of pilots are women.

The Mirror

• Bordering on the ridiculous: Chaos at our airports is a national humiliation If anarchic Heathrow is an example of British efficiency, know-how and hospitality, then why would anyone want to do business here?

Network Rail

• NEW LOOK LOUGHBOROUGH STATION UNVEILED

Manchester Evening News

• Broken-down tram brings Metrolink service to standstill in city centreA broken-down tram in Piccadilly Gardens is causing delays for commuters this afternoon. Witnesses reported the city centre to be at a standstill as up to six trams have been left stranded.
• The naked truth: Manchester airport’s under-fire scanner is safeManchester Airport™s ˜naked™ body scanner is set to stay “ after top scientists declared it safe. The European Commission stopped all new trials of the controversial £80,000 device amid fears it could emit high levels of cancer-causing radiation. But after a major study investigating the risks, EU chiefs have declared that the health impact is ˜close to zero™.

Yorkshire Post

• Airport naked body scanners ˜safe to use™Controversial naked body scanners at Manchester Airport are safe to use, according to a report by experts.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Stansted: bmibaby flights to Belfast to be axed from next monthLOW fare carrier bmibaby is set to close later this year, it was confirmed today, with its Stansted-Belfast route among a number to be axed from next month.

Plymouth Herald

• 'Don't flush' plea to rail passengers to save bridge workersRAIL passengers are being asked to resist the call of nature when travelling over the Brunel bridge – because workers are being showered with flushed waste.

Other Regional Press

• Railway station's revamp is ready in time for OlympicsA new-look railway station has been officially unveiled in time for the Olympics after an £8 million revamp.
• ’Ancient woods to be dug up and moved elsewhere’ to make way for HS2 PROPOSALS to move ancient woodlands if they get in the way of the planned HS2 line show an out of touch ’city dwellers view of the environment’ according to campaigners.
• Huddersfield Railway Station is the perfect platform for art!ARTISTS have brightened up Huddersfield Railway Station.
• Rail link voteCOUNCIL chiefs are set to vote on whether or not to support plans for an East-West Rail link on Wednesday.

Global Rail News

• Community Rail Partnership builds successIreland™s first community rail partnership has recorded a notable success. Last month Iarnród Éireann started running a new through Intercity service from Limerick to Dublin via the Nenagh / Ballybrophy branch. This is the first time for around 30 years that a regular through service to Dublin has operated. The service departs from Limerick (Colbert) [...]
• Greater Anglia unveils ˜Diamond Jubilee™ locomotiveGreater Anglia has unveiled a Class 90 locomotive named ‘Diamond Jubilee’ in honour of the Queen’s celebration this year. Richard Jewson Esq, JP, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk officially named the Greater Anglia mainline locomotive in a ceremony held at Norwich station. The locomotive is part of the Greater Anglia fleet which operates Intercity train services [...]
• Police introduce new measures to help combat metal theftNew measures to combat the increasing problem of metal theft are being introduced across the North West, British Transport Police have said. Operation Tornado, spearheaded by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), will aim to make it easier to trace sellers of stolen metal through an identification scheme. Tornado spokesman Chief Inspector Robin Edwards [...]
• ScotRail beats rail passenger recordScotRail said it has ‘beaten passenger records for the eighth year in a row’. Latest figures show that it carried 81.1 million customers in the year ending March 31, 2012 “ up 3.6% on last year™s record-breaking 78.3 million. Passenger numbers have now risen by more than 30% since ScotRail™s franchise began in 2004. Steve [...]
• Portadown refurbishmentPortadown Station on the Belfast to Dundalk and Dublin main line is to receive a £3.6m refurbishment. Works will include a new atrium at the Obin Street entrance and lift access and a new footbridge to connect to the island platform. An external facelift will also take place and new public and staff facilities will [...]
• HS2 design to startDespite all the rumbling from the inhabitants of southern England, HS2 continues to plan for the future. Atkins has been awarded the contract to prepare the preliminary designs for the two high-speed running lines through the Country South section – a 91km stretch covering Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. The contract is worth £13.3 million and [...]

Aviation Industry

• Flybe wants to fill Bmibaby summer gap Regional carrier aims to bring forward new services from East Midlands airport