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

Thursday, 17 May 2012

BBC News

• Hammersmith tunnel 'solution to crumbling flyover' A west London council has said building a tunnel is the long-term solution to replace a "crumbling" flyover.
• Dial-a-Ride charity stops trading A charity providing transport for elderly and disabled people in part of Cheshire has stopped trading for financial reasons after 25 years.
• Cardiff Airport boss leaves jobThe managing director of under-fire Cardiff Airport leaves his post, it emerges, while a new operations director is appointed by the Spanish owners.
• Virgin Atlantic allows air callsPassengers flying Virgin Atlantic from London to New York will soon be able to make in-flight phone calls using personal devices.
• Taxi drivers in bus lane protestPrivate hire taxi drivers who claim it is unfair that they are not allowed to use bus lanes in Manchester are holding a go-slow protest through the city.
• Has the Olympic pot run out to pay the bus drivers? Where will the money for the bus drivers' Olympic pay come from?
• Runaway Tube train charge broughtLondon Underground and two companies are to be prosecuted by the rail regulator over a runaway train on the Northern Line.
• Vauxhall car plant 'saved by GM'General Motors is to confirm within hours that Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant has been saved, securing the jobs of 2,100 staff, the BBC learns.

Financial Times

• Architect of the modern MaerskDeath of Maersk McKinney-Møller, chief executive for 28 years, severs last connection between shipping group™s senior management and founding family
• Container shipping: boxed inAfter a brief rally, the industry™s downturn has resumed with a rash of gloomy updates and shipping lines have slowed their vessels to and from China
• Maersk suffers heavy loss at container armSettlement of tax dispute in Algeria and investment gains mask first-quarter decline as Danish group highlights problems facing sector
• Georgian Railway valued as high as £1bnCaucasus state™s railway monopoly seeks a listing on the London Stock Exchange for global depositary receipts representing 25% of its shares

The Scotsman

• Scottish rail travel is more dangerous VIOLENT crimes on Scotland’s railways increased by 17 per cent in the year to March despite an overall fall in offences.

The Telegraph

• London Underground: Tracey Emin's Tube map unveiledTracey Emin is the latest artist to decorate the pocket Tube map; her picture will be printed 18 million times.

Daily Express

• BA owner is hit by turbulenceBRITISH Airways' parent IAG went into a tailspin amid concerns over weakening Spanish trading and higher losses from its bmi airline acquisition.

Mail Online

• Britain's rarest steam train the No 925 Cheltenham chugs back onto the rails after 50 yearsAfter being restored at Eastleigh Rail Works, near Southampton, the Cheltenham, retired in 1962, will take visitors on the 10-mile-long Mid Hants Railway ‘Watercress’ Line that connects Alton to Winchester in Hampshire.
• Tory minister Justine Greening tells Londoners to 're-mode' to beat Olympic congestionThe Transport Secretary (pictured) coined the useless neologism in a video produced by her department telling people to change their travel habits during this summer's Olympic Games.

The Mirror

• Bus strike threat: London drivers balloted over bonus for working Olympics Ballot papers yesterday went out to 20,000 London bus drivers, who say they deserve a £500 bonus

Network Rail

• SPADES AT THE READY: ANDOVER STATION IMPROVEMENT WORK STARTS

Belfast Telegraph

• Figures show fall in railway crimes Crime on Britain's railways has fallen for the eighth successive year, according to statistics.

Birmingham Post

• Ticket office closures 'will make £1.25m profit for London Midland'A rail company has been accused of planning to make £1.25 million a year profit from closing ticket offices and cutting jobs.

Derby Telegraph

• Derby Telegraph commented Victoria Martindale: Why this high-speed rail line should be...CHINA'S got it. Japan's got it. So has the US. Even France and Spain have got it. So why hasn't the UK got it? Well, we have now,...

Edinburgh Evening News

• Bus lane and cameras add up to a left turn for worseFAMILIES in an east Edinburgh street have complained of being landed with £60 fines every day as they must drive through a bus lane to get home.

London Evening Standard

• We’ll transform Tube and slash delays, vows transport chief Boris Johnson's transport chief today promised Londoners the Tube network will be completely transformed over the next four years, with delays down by 30 per cent and major infrastructure projects near completion.

Manchester Evening News

• Private hire taxi drivers clog city streets in protest over bus lane ban - videoAn army of angry cabbies clogged the city's streets in protest at being banned from using bus lanes. Hundreds of private-hire drivers drove in tandem from the Etihad Stadium to Albert Square in defiance of the council's rule.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Metro line to close for 23 days in North TynesideMETRO passengers face a summer of disruption after transport bosses confirmed details of a 23-day line closure.

Sheffield Star

• Youngsters rule on cheap travelFREE travel for young people in Barnsley is to end - but they will still only be charged 30p for bus journeys in the borough compared with 60p paid by youngsters elsewhere in South Yorkshire.
• Transformation of village pathWHAT was once an overgrown path has been transformed into a new walking and cycling trail.
• £58m South Yorkshire tram train planSOUTH Yorkshire commuters are to benefit from a major Government announcement - with £58 million of funding set to be granted for a unique new tram-train service between Sheffield and Rotherham.

Wales Online

• Cardiff Airport managing director leaves postCardiff Airport has announced that its managing director has left his post.

Yorkshire Post

• Railway warhorse to go on show at festivalIT MADE a vital contribution nearly a century ago to helping secure victory in the First World War.

Other Regional Press

• UK & World News: Prosecution over runaway trainLondon Underground is to be prosecuted by the rail regulator over a runaway engineering train, it has been disclosed.
• Coach depot blaze in BatleyFIREFIGHTERS raced to stop a blaze at portable building spreading to a coach depot in Batley.
• Village bus is back on roadCOMMUNITY leaders are celebrating after the future of a lifeline bus service serving stranded villagers was secured.
• Drivers warned over traffic lights plan for busy Aberdeen roadTEMPORARY traffic lights will be in operation for a fortnight on an Aberdeen road.

Global Rail News

• Parsons Brinckerhoff awarded HS2 contractsParsons Brinckerhoff has been awarded two contracts covering the design of both ˜high speed™ and ˜conventional™ railway systems for the UK™s second high speed rail line which will run between London Euston and Birmingham in the West Midlands. The first contract, valued at £4.3m, covers the design of the high speed rail systems for Phase [...]
• Rail apprenticeship scheme ˜on right track™A pioneering apprenticeship scheme run by West Nottinghamshire College has been praised by the Government™s Skills Minister. John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, met with rail engineering apprentices being trained to work on the UK™s rail network. It came as part of a visit to the college™s rail [...]
• London Midland to ˜make £1.25m from closing ticket offices™The RMT has said ‘leaked internal documents show London Midland plan to profit £1.25 million a year from their programme of savage cuts to ticket offices and staffing levels’. The union says that leaked emails from the Department for Transport show the train operator are making these plans in ‘direct collusion with the Government’. London [...]
• East Midlands Trains face strikes by second unionThe RMT has said it will begin balloting members for strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over pensions at East Midlands Trains. ASLEF drivers are currently running strikes on East Midlands Trains services for the same reason, causing chaos for commuters. The RMT said as a ‘result of management ignoring [...]

London TravelWatch

• London TravelWatch expresses disappointment that there will be no additional Southeastern services for commuters from Peckham Rye and Denmark HillLondon TravelWatch is disappointed at the Department of Transport™s (DfT) decision that Southeastern trains should not make additional stops at Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill during peak hours. The independent passenger watchdog has campaigned for these improvements and wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport in January 2012 to ask for the Government™s support.

Other News Sources

• Honda UNI-CUB personal transport concept unveiled Honda has announced the successor to its U3-X personal mobility concept, the UNI-CUB - although it's not planning on bringing the Segway-inspired device to market just yet.
• Wizz Air celebrates its 8th anniversary Wizz Air celebrates its 8th anniversary and 8 years of strong growth with its biggest ever seat sale: 8 million seats for just 80% of the regular web fare. Starting in 2004, Wizz Air was the...