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

Friday, 19 April 2013

BBC News

• Work starts on Borders rail routeConstruction workers start digging the line for the new Borders Railway at a site in Edinburgh.
• Eurostar sees rise in revenuesEurostar says promotional campaigns meant leisure bookings helped to offset a fall in business travel during the first three months of this year.
• Rethink on HS2 Euston rebuild planPlans to completely rebuild Britain's sixth-busiest railway station, Euston in north London, for the HS2 high-speed project are scrapped.
• The art of hand crafted bicyclesBuying bespoke sparks the revival of a dying British craft

Financial Times

• State-run railway beats private rivalsWatchdog finds East Coast requires lower government funding than other franchises, raising questions about moves to privatise the operation

The Guardian

• How roads were not built for cars A history of how 19th-century cyclists paved the way for modern roads offers clues to how cars could again lose their dominance
• East Coast rail service costs taxpayers less than private lines, report reveals Labour and unions seize on regulator's analysis which shows state-run service requires smaller subsidy than private lines

The Herald

• Price of fuel may drop 3p per litreA NEW crash in wholesale fuel prices is expected to lop another 3p off the average pump price within two to three weeks, according to industry analysts, as the latest figures show a 2%-3% drop in the cost of petrol and diesel in Scotland.

The Scotsman

• Rail passengers pay more as susbsidy falls The total amount train passengers pay for their tickets is going up while government subsidy for the railways is falling, according to a report by regulators.

The Telegraph

• Gatwick competes with Heathrow for more transfer passengers Gatwick airport is preparing to step up its battle against rival Heathrow with a new scheme that will allow low-cost airline passengers to transfer more easily to long-haul flights.
• Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin: Thatcher critics are wrong about the miners' strike As a cabinet minister now and a miner in the 1980s, I have been listening to the debate about Baroness Thatcher with particular interest. Words like ’divisive’ have been flung about. The Miners’ strike has been laid at her door. Well I was there. I worked through it. And much of what is being said now just isn’t true.

Mail Online

• Megabus launch bus with beds which will travel from London to Scotland for £15The new coach service will take customers from to Glasgow to London in less than eight hours and includes a complimentary onesie for sleepy travellers.
• Price of petrol could fall by another 3p a litre in next two weeks as wholesale price continues to dropSupermarket cuts have already helped push the average price of petrol to 136.89p a litre. With wholesale fuel prices falling, the AA says average petrol prices could fall to about 134p a litre soon.

ATOC

• Train companies respond to ORR report on rail financesResponding to the Office of Rail Regulation Report ‘GB rail financial information 2011-12’ Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies,...

Network Rail

• Main construction work begins on new Borders Railway
• Accessible rail travel in south London gets a lift - or rather 15Rail travel into, out of, and around the capital has become possible for many more people with the completion by Network Rail of work at three south London stations to install lifts and other accessibility facilities.

Bristol Live

• The Bristol Post published Independent operators delighted with response to new bus service...TWO experienced bus drivers have set up their own service between Clevedon and Bristol.Shaun Craigie, 34, from Hanham and Gary Williams, 36, from Filton are convinced that there is a market for an express service between the North Somerset town and the city centre.They are joint directors of Bristol Greyhound Ltd, an independent company which runs two green-and-cream single-deckers on its X7 service.This service operates between the Engineer's Arms opposite the entrance to Temple Meads station...
• The Bristol Post published Six days to consult on First's bus faresArticle

Edinburgh Evening News

• Traffic warning as Borders rail link work beginsSpeed restrictions of 40mph will be enforced on a diversion route around a section of the City Bypass set to close later this year to cater for Borders Railway works.

Journal Live

• Hexham MP Guy Opperman calls for urgent A69 safety reviewA NORTH East MP is calling for an urgent review of road safety on a main A-road following another fatal smash last week.

Liverpool Post

• Full Walrus smartcard roll-out for public transport in Merseyside delayed until next yearTHE FULL roll out of Merseyside’s transport smartcard has been delayed until next year.

London Evening Standard

• Euston station rebuild bid scrappedPlans to knock down and completely rebuild Britain's sixth-busiest railway station as part of the HS2 high-speed project have been scrapped.

Northern Echo

• Figures derail case for re-privatisation of East Coast rail line, it is claimed NEW figures have blown apart the case for re-privatising the successful East Coast rail line, Labour claimed today (Thursday, April 18).

The York Press

• Traffic queues misery on A19 in York ANGRY motorists and commuters heading into York on the A19 say new traffic lights at Fulford and roadworks in Fishergate are causing long delays.

Yorkshire Post

• Campaigners ‘painting Leeds trolleybus team as liars’CIVIC leaders have issued their strongest rejection to date of claims that the Leeds trolleybus scheme could prove an expensive flop.
• HS2 chiefs put brake on plans to rebuild busy London stationPlans to knock down and completely rebuild Britain’s sixth-busiest railway station as part of the HS2 high-speed project have been scrapped.
• Young left stranded by soaring bus fares, MPs warnSPIRALLING bus fares and cuts to rural and late-night routes across Yorkshire are leaving young people stranded and unable to get to training courses and job interviews, MPs have warned.

Blackpool Gazette

• Kitty aims to get pupils on bikesYoungsters are being encouraged to get in the saddle and cycle to school in a bid to reduce pollution in Poulton.
• Call for new Prom bus laneA special lane dedicated to taxis and buses should form part of a newly revamped Promenade, a transport chief said today.

Crewe Chronicle

• UK & World News: Euston station rebuild bid scrappedPlans to knock down and completely rebuild Britain's sixth-busiest railway station as part of the HS2 high-speed project have been scrapped.

Other Regional Press

• Fresh deals agreed to keep former RH Buses routes on road EMERGENCY contracts agreed to keep bus routes in West Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse running after the collapse of RH Transport last year will be replaced by new deals in June.
• Bus company to improve services in NorthamptonVital public transport links throughout Northampton have been saved from closure by a bus company.
• Appeal after theft at Northampton stationOfficers have released CCTV pictures of a man stealing a bike saddle from Northampton station.

Global Rail News

• The future of GSM-R and its possible replacementGSM-R (Global System for Mobile – Railways) is now well established as the radio system of choice for track- to-train voice communication in Europe and many countries beyond. A comprehensive description of the system was given in issue 48 of The Rail Engineer (October 2008). It is also a constituent part of ERTMS (European Rail [...]
• Rail Safety Summit 2013: Leadership and safety cultureTransport for London Over a hundred and twenty people were present when i opened this year’s Rail Safety Summit. Writes Colin Wheeler I then invited Transport for London’s Jill Collis (Director Health Safety and Environment) and Dr. Ian Gaskin (General Manager Health Safety and Environment) to conduct their opening session entitled, “A conversation on safety [...]
• Transport Minister unveils university rail research centreThe Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, has officially opened the Institute of Railway Research (IRR) at Huddersfield University. The IRR’s team of researchers, headed by its director Professor Simon Iwnicki, had been at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Rail Technology Unit which had specialised in vehicle dynamics, switches, crossing and rolling contact fatigue. However, with [...]
• Railjet in cross-border exhibition runPassengers expecting to see their usual class 680 Pendolino pulling into Prague hlavní nádraží station yesterday (April 17) were greeted by one of the new Railjet trains due to enter full service next year. A special two-day trip is underway between Graz, Vienna, Brno and Prague to preview the cross-border service before it carries its first [...]
• Singapore trials free early-morning rail travelEarly-morning commuters on Singapore’s MRT metro system will be able to travel for free under a new initiative designed to reduce peak overcrowding. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is preparing to begin a one-year trial to give passengers free use of the network across 16 stations before 7.45am on weekdays. The trial, which is being [...]
• Regional Rail Link station designs unveiledFinal designs for two stations at the heart of Melbourne’s Regional Rail Link have gone on show. Artist impressions of stations being built at Wyndham Vale and Tarneit have been released, as work continues on the major rail infrastructure project. Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese marked the milestone by inspecting progress on the [...]
• East Coast most efficiently run franchiseThe East Coast franchise is the most efficiently run in the UK in terms of its reliance on taxpayer funding, an ORR report has concluded. Out of the franchises that make net payments to the government, East Coast, which has been state run since November 2009, requires just 1 per cent of government funding once [...]
• Viaduct build complete on Madrid-Galicia high-speed lineSpanish infrastructure manager Adif has completed the main construction work on the Arnoia viaduct along the Madrid-Galicia high-speed rail line. The viaduct, which lies in the Zamora-Ourense section of the route, stretches for just over a kilometre over the Arnoia river. The subsection Miamán-Ponte Ambía of the Madrid-Galicia line, which integrates the viaduct, has 6.7 [...]
• HS2 rethinks Euston plansHS2 has said it will not have to demolish and rebuild Euston station for Britain’s proposed high-speed rail network. In January 2012, the government published plans for the first phase of High Speed Two (HS2) between London and the West Midlands, including proposals to completely redesign Euston Station to accommodate high-speed trains. HS2, however, has [...]

Other Subscription Services

• Councils' HS2 opposition spend exceeds £1m Local authorities have spent more than £1m opposing government plans for High Speed 2 and are now setting aside further resources to challenge the High Court ruling earlier this year.According to a...
• Three part plan for West Coast Staffs upgrade Work has begun on the £250m programme to upgrade the West Coast Main Line in Staffordshire and which will include building a new grade separated junction.Earlier this year Network Rail announced...
• Borders railway construction belatedly begins It is nearly seven years since Royal Assent was granted for the Borders rail bill but this week main construction work finally got underway.The Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill granting powers to...