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

Friday, 01 March 2013

BBC News

• Overhead cables damage causes widespread train delays Rail passengers face disruption to their journeys after overhead wires on the West Coast mainline near Milton Keynes were damaged.
• Faulty pass girl barred from busA teenage girl with a faulty bus pass has been prevented from boarding a bus, near to where a student who was turned away for being 20p short of her fare was raped in 2011.
• Airport group confirms Stansted dealThe group which owns Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports adds Stansted to its stable.
• Tube drivers ballot over strikeTube drivers on the Jubilee Line, working out of the Stratford and Greenwich depots, are to be balloted for industrial action.
• Runaway Tube train operators finedThree transport companies are fined £100,000 each after a runaway train came within 600m of crashing into a packed tube train.
• VIDEO: Airbus gears up for A350 launchAirbus, the European planemaker owned by EADS, is getting ready to launch its A350, a rival to Boeing's grounded Dreamliner aircraft.
• Virgin airline unveils UK servicesVirgin Atlantic unveils details of its UK domestic service, Little Red, which Sir Richard Branson says will challenge British Airways.

Financial Times

• IAG sees €997m loss after Iberia chargeChief executive Willie Walsh says that the airlines group must stem cash losses after a €343m impairment charge on its Spanish arm
• Emerging Europe airlines head for hangarPoland™s Lot is among lossmaking carriers that appear to be following Hungary™s Malev into the aviation history books, writes Neil Buckley
• New owner sets out Stansted™s growth planMAG chief executive aims to attract a wider variety of carriers and their customers to the Essex airport, including those flying long-distance routes
• Pensioner subsidy cut hits National ExpressCoach and train operator suffers after losing East Anglia rail franchise and as it struggles to attract pensioners after cut in bus fare subsidies

The Telegraph

• New Crossrail images show tunnelling marathon under the streets of LondonNew Crossrail images show tunnelling marathon under London.
• Call for passengers to be given vote on who runs their trainsPassengers should be given a vote on whether train operators should continue running services, the head of the consumer watchdog has said.

Mail Online

• 39-tonne runaway train came 'bloody close' to a packed Tube train and careered through seven stationsLondon Underground and its contractors were today fined £300,000 at the Old Bailey over the incident in 2011 involving a 66ft-long broken down maintenance unit being towed uphill.

The Mirror

• Sky-high charges are killing us: British Airways boss slams Heathrow Airport after posting losses Willie Walsh denied that airlines were leading a “phoney war” against the fees because they did not want to have to stomach rises

Bolton News

• Cyclist Charlotte gets on her bike to help get the confidence to tackle our busy roads Transport bosses have introduced cycling lessons to encourage commuters and the general public to get on their bikes. Reporter Charlotte Dobson takes the course to find out how easy it is to harness the power of the pedal
• Lancashire Cricket Club's ground is being renamed Lancashire Cricket Club's stadium is being renamed in a deal with an airline firm.

Derby Telegraph

• Derby Telegraph commented Derby bus station could be extended as part of plans for...DERBY'S bus station building could be extended to include its coach bays as part of the redevelopment of its Riverlights complex.

Journal Live

• MP Guy Opperman slams payment idea for Hexham bus station upgradeA NORTH MP has branded proposals to use a town's parking fees to upgrade its crumbling bus station as double taxation.

London Evening Standard

• British Airways' owner IAG takes Iberia hit as Spain economy dives The boss of International Airlines Group, Willie Walsh, admitted the Spanish economy had deteriorated faster and deeper than British Airways had expected when it merged with Iberia, as the airlines group today crashed to a €1 billion (£865 million) pre-tax annual loss.
• British Airways' owner IAG takes Iberia hit as Spain economy dives The boss of International Airlines Group, Willie Walsh, admitted the Spanish economy had deteriorated faster and deeper than British Airways had expected when it merged with Iberia, as the airlines group today crashed to a €1 billion (£865 million) pre-tax annual loss.
• Jubilee line strike threat 'over lack of cold drinks for drivers'Tube union bosses today threatened to halt the Jubilee line in a row over a lack of cold drinks for train drivers.
• London Underground fined over runaway train that hurtled four miles down Northern lineLondon Underground and its contractors have been fined £300,000 for endangering passengers and staff after a runaway train caused chaos on the Northern line.

Manchester Evening News

• Virgin Atlantic puts on extra flight to London Virgin Atlantic today announced it will run an extra daily flight between Manchester and London from the end of this fourth.
• MAG completes swoop of Stansted AirportManchester Airports Group today kicked-off its mission to transform the fortunes of Stansted Airport.

Sheffield Star

• Doncaster to Scunthorpe railway line closed until JuneDONCASTER’s rail link to Scunthorpe will remain closed until late June, say engineers.
• Sheffield children campaign for 20mph speed limitSAFARI so good for a school’s campaign to improve road safety – after a zebra stopped by to highlight children’s campaign.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Leeds and Yorkshire: £33 billion building bonanza from HS2LOCAL firms will benefit from “all aspects” of the £33 billion construction of a high-speed rail line from Leeds to London, the Transport Secretary has said.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Bus user group has first meetingFriday, 4.50pm: The first meeting of a group formed to represent bus users in Peterborough has taken place this afternoon (February 28).

Other Regional Press

• Bus row pledgePARENTS whose children may see their free school buses axed have been promised their voices will be heard.
• Thousands quizzed over future of airport More than 20,000 people in the path of a planned international airport are being asked for their opinion as opponents ramp up their fight.
• Weather woes mean summer opening for buswayThe Luton Dunstable Busway is unlikely to open until the end of June, according to a new report.

Bus and Coach.com

• Coach Friendly for ChesterfieldChesterfield has been awarded CPT Coach Friendly status.
• First goes for SimplicityFirst Glasgow is consulting on plans to simplify its city service network, with 15 high-frequency Simplicity services on key corridors.
• Poor maintenance sees fleet halvedThe number of vehicles authorised for operation by McKendry™s Coaches of Loanhead has been halved, from ten to five, because of maintenance failures.
• Oxford to compare hybrid drivesThe Oxford Bus Company has taken delivery of 19 Volvo B5LH hybrids.
• Government launches Better Bus awardThe bidding for the government™s Better Bus Areas funding was launched this week by transport minister Norman Baker, who also announced that Sheffield would act as a pilot for the scheme.

Global Rail News

• Jubilee Line drivers consider industrial actionTube drivers on the Jubilee Line are to be balloted for strike action over what rail union RMT described as “unfair” treatment by management. Staff working out of the Stratford and Greenwich depots will vote on whether or not to take industrial action in a dispute over “poor” facilities, removal of benefits and a “lack [...]
• Video: Flythrough of Auckland City LinkAuckland Transport, the authority behind one of New Zealand’s biggest transport infrastructure projects, has released a new video that gives a virtual tour of the proposed City Rail Link (CRL). The $2.86 billion line will connect Auckland’s Britomart station to Eden Terrace, reducing travel times significantly through the city and relieving pressure on the existing [...]
• Crossrail releases latest tunnelling imagesFollowing a series of spectacular aerial images of Crossrail construction sites published last month, new tunnelling images have been released today to show how Crossrail’s caverns are shaping up beneath the streets of London.
• Brian May to perform at St PancrasQueen guitarist Brian May is to perform alongside West End star Kerry Ellis at St Pancras in aid of wildlife conservation. The pair will appear together in front of 6pm rush-hour commuters tomorrow (March 1) to kick off a three-week campaign to protect tigers in the wild. The fundraising and awareness initiative has been set [...]
• Strukton wins auxiliary converter contract for Toulouse MetroStrukton Rolling Stock is to deliver new auxiliary converters for Toulouse Metro’s VAL206 fleet. Twenty-eight driverless VAL206 vehicles will get a 750V DC/ 72V DC battery charger and a 750V DC/400V AC inverter as part of a major refurbishment project. Deliveries will commence in Q3 of 2013. In 2011, Strukton provided the operator Tisséo with [...]
• New Italian E464 locomotive arrives before high-speed replacementBombardier has delivered a new E464 locomotive to Italian operator Trenitalia from its manufacturing site in Vado Ligure. Italy now has 688 E464 locomotives operating across 14 regions, including Tuscany, Lombardy and Lazio, making it the largest single vehicle-type fleet in Europe. Despite its popularity, Bombardier and Trenitalia are working together to develop the high-speed [...]
• Rail Safety Summit 2013: Who™s speaking about whatThe world of rail safety will arrive in Loughborough on March 14 as the 2013 Rail Safety Summit gets underway. Dr. Ian Gaskin A conversation on safety leadership Safety management systems, rules and procedures are vital “ but not enough. What is the role of leaders throughout an organisation in creating the right safety culture? [...]

Aviation Industry

• Flybe adds flights from East Midlands to ScotlandRegional carrier to boost frequencies on services to Edinburgh and Glasgow
• MAG completes £1.5 billion deal to buy StanstedManchester-based operator takes control of Essex airport

Other News Sources

• Level crossing bridges to take cars off roads MILLIONS of pounds will be ploughed into traffic measures in Egham to counteract congestion caused by the town’s level crossings.
• Heathrow completes sale of Stansted airportHeathrow Airport Holdings Limited announces the completion today of the sale of Stansted airport to Manchester Airports Group (ldquo;MAGrdquo;) for pound;1,500 million....
• New Air Traffic Control centre inagurated in BudapestThe new Hungarian air navigation centre was inaugurated in Budapest on 27 February 2013, bringing the complex investment programme of the Hungarian air navigation service provider to a...