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Thursday, 13 June 2013

BBC News

• Hitachi to build Vietnam urban railway in $381m project Japanese infrastructure firm Hitachi is set to build Vietnam's first urban railway in Ho Chi Minh City.
• Guernsey States says 'no more money' for bus service There is no more money available to improve the bus service, Guernsey's environment department has said.
• 'No plans' to dual the A1 says Transport Secretary There are no plans to dual the A1 north of Newcastle, according to the government.
• Commons motion over Shrewsbury to London rail services bid Calls to establish a twice daily train service from Shropshire to London have been made in the Commons.
• Transport charity over-claimed £50kA community transport charity set up to help vulnerable people over-claimed more than £50,000 in taxpayer's money, a report finds.
• Blackpool MPs in rail link pleaBlackpool's MPs condemn Network Rail's block on an application to run trains to the resort from London.
• Prestwick numbers continue to risePassenger numbers at Glasgow Prestwick Airport should continue to rise this summer, according to its operators.
• VIDEO: Heathrow runway gets £20m makeoverMore than £20m is being spent on re-laying the Heathrow's southern runway over the next six months.
• Network Rail told to cut £2bn costsNetwork Rail is told by the rail regulator that it must find savings of £2bn over the next five years and improve punctuality on all routes.
• Car park plans for old Stoke-on-Trent bus station An old bus station in Stoke-on-Trent could become a temporary car park.

Financial Times

• Rail regulator demands punctuality targetOffice of Rail Regulation is to demand that 90% of train services in England and Wales arrive on time amid concern over Network Rail’s performance

The Guardian

• Government denies First Great Western franchise talks are in limbo Department for Transport says state rail operator's preparations to take over line are 'sensible contingency measure'
• London transport: who should pay for Osborne's fast-approaching grant cut? The capital faces a reduced transport settlement with the Treasury, leaving only questions of how bad the news will be and what will have to be done to compensate. What would readers do?

The Herald

• Souter's post-independence road toll planTRANSPORT tycoon Sir Brian Souter has said an independent Scotland should slash taxes and introduce road tolls.

The Independent

• Brits turn to Dutch for tips on tapping into the post-Olympic ‘Wiggins effect’ So inexperienced are the British when it comes to cycling that on this week’s fact-finding trip to the Netherlands two delegates from the UK contingent wobbled off their bikes.Related Stories‘Zero-hours’ contracts for workers to be reviewed by CoalitionRBS chief Stephen Hester forced to go as George Osborne paves way for sell-offPolitical correctness resulting in female circumcision being ignored in UK, say MPsShort-term cuts won’t produce lasting savings, watchdog warnsRBS chief Stephen Hester forced to go as Chancellor George Osborne paves way for sell-off   &...
• How do you make Britain a better place for two wheels? Go Dutch So inexperienced are the British when it comes to cycling that on this week’s fact-finding trip to the Netherlands two delegates from the UK contingent wobbled off their bikes.Related Stories‘Zero-hours’ contracts for workers to be reviewed by CoalitionRBS chief Stephen Hester forced to go as George Osborne paves way for sell-offPolitical correctness resulting in female circumcision being ignored in UK, say MPsShort-term cuts won’t produce lasting savings, watchdog warnsRBS chief Stephen Hester forced to go as Chancellor George Osborne paves way for sell-off   &...

The Telegraph

• Network Rail told to save £2bn and meet new punctuality targetsNetwork Rail has been told by regulators that it must shave nearly £2 billion from spending plans over the next five years and meet new punctuality targets.    
• Motorists fear councils are motivated by profits to dish out finesCouncils are said to be 'pitching themselves in battle' against drivers, as there are fears they are being motivated by targets and profits to dish out fines.    
• Rail journey times could fall, but union threatens strike over job cutsJourney times on two of Britain's key railway lines could be cut under industry plans to overhaul the network's ageing signalling system.    
• 80mph speed limit plan 'not dead', says ministerMotorway speed limits could be increased to 80mph next year following trials of the new restriction in several areas.    

The Mirror

• Safety fears after Network Rail told to make savings of £2bn over five years The Office of Rail Regulation, the independent regulator, told Network Rail that cuts must not come at the expense of safety

ATOC

• ATOC responds to ORR draft determinationIn response to the ORR publishing its draft determination, Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), said: “We will consider carefully today’...

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Jobs boost as firm seals Jaguar LandRover deal A Bradford precision engineering factory that was nearly closed down four years ago has fought off global competition to win a major jobs-boosting contract with Jaguar Land Rover that will see its products exported around the world.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Taxpayers hit with £40k bill because nobody is collecting 90p charge on Barmouth Bridge Gwynedd Council having to stump up the cash for a licence from Network Rail
• Bangor is the busiest railway station in North WalesFigures released show the number of visitors using rail stations is on the up, with a 12.8% increase in Shotton and a huge 18.6% in Conwy

Derby Telegraph

• 6,000 jobs to be created at rail hub BUSINESS leaders have welcomed claims by the developers behind a massive rail freight depot in Derbyshire that it could create about 4,000 more jobs than first thought.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Edinburgh airport lands top spot for third yearEdinburgh’s main transport hub has been given the international seal of approval, with the facility named Europe’s best airport for the third year running.

London Evening Standard

• Heathrow poll 'shows most residents back expansion' Residents who live near Heathrow are slightly more likely to be in favour of expansion than be opposed, according to a large poll commissioned by the airport.
• Cut £2bn from costs and improve punctuality, National Rail bosses orderedRail chiefs were today ordered to slash the costs of running Britain's tracks by £2 billion at the same time as improving train punctuality.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Airport-style checking in with new hi-tech kiosks at three Leeds hospitalsPatients at three Leeds hospitals can now check-in for appointments using airport-style kiosks.
• The Leeds street lights switch-off which could save £1mStreets lights in Leeds could be switched off at night to save the council more than £1m on its energy bills.

Blackpool Gazette

• Rail link dream hits the buffersBlackpool’s dream of a direct rail link to London is in tatters after Network Rail refused Virgin’s application.

Other Regional Press

• No more bus blues at collegeStudents at Luton Sixth Form College have no excuse for missing their bus home any more after the installation of an electronic display board.
• Crackdown on railway dealersPolice have launched a crackdown on dealers using trains to supply drugs.
• Journey through Lancashire’s rail historyA journey through the history and heritage of Lancashire’s railways will start at the Museum of Lancashire.
• Back to 2008...council set for car parking charges u-turn A CUT in car parking charges is among the proposals in a radical overhaul in Weymouth and Portland.

Airportwatch

• Welsh rail use on the increaseTHE number of people using the railways in Wales over the past year has increased by 2.6 per cent, according to Welsh Government figures.

Global Rail News

• ORR proposes £2bn savings in CP5The Office of Rail Regulation has suggested cutting the projected cost of running Britain’s railway network over the next five years by £2 billion. In January, Network Rail published its[...]
• EIB loan supports Istanbul-Ankara high-speed lineA loan for 200 million euro has been issued by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the construction of a high-speed line between Turkey’s two largest cities. The EIB[...]
• Cross River Rail project left out of Queensland budgetAustralia’s Minister for Infrastructure and Transport has criticised the lack of financial support shown by the Queensland Government to Brisbane’s planned Cross River Rail Project. Anthony Albanese said that “Queenslanders[...]
• First tram arrives in BesançonThe French city of Besançon has received the first of 19 trams ordered from Spanish rolling stock giant CAF. Victor Hugo arrived in the city, which lies about 70 kms[...]

Railnews

• ORR sets out £2bn of cuts to Network Rail budget The Office of Rail Regulation has revealed that it expects Network Rail to save £2 billion during the five years from 2014, having published its draft determination of the company's next five-year budget this morning. The Regulator said the £37.9 billion total was 'stretching, but achievable'. Borrowing will also rise by about a third. Train operators have welcomed the announcement in principle, but one rail union has claimed that safety would be put at risk by the reductions.

Railway Gazette

• Railway supply industry news in briefPakistan’s Ministry of Finance has invited private sector proposals for a 25-year concession to manage the Risalpur locomotive factory. The government is hoping private finance can be used to fund modernisation, with the ambition of producing 25 locomotives/year for Pakistan Railways. Export opportunities would also be sought. Rolling stock composite component manufacturer Plastwag is investing 10m zÅ‚oty in a new production hall at its Mielec site in Poland. The RailComp joint venture of Alstom and Transmashholding has opened an asynchronous traction drive production facility at TMH’s Novoche...
• LEO Express enters Polish marketPOLAND: Through its local partner DLA, Czech open access inter-city operator LEO Express has applied for paths to operate on the Katowice/Kraków – Warszawa and Warszawa – Poznan – Szczecin routes. Announcing its entry into the Polish market on June 12, LEO Express said that it was ‘currently holding intensive negotiations’ with infrastructure manager PKP PLK ‘and other agencies’ over securing capacity on these routes. LEO Express founder LeoÅ¡ Novotný said that his aim was to supplement existing operators, offering quality long-distance services that would attract new customers to rail from the...
• Abellio orders Niederrhein FlirtsGERMANY: Stadler Pankow GmbH announced on June 12 that it had signed a contract with Abellio Rail NRW GmbH to supply 20 five-car Flirt 3 EMUs to operate Niederrhein-Netz services on route RB33 from Mönchengladbach to Wesel and RB35 from Dusseldorf to Emmerich, which is to be extended to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Seven of the new fleet will be dual-voltage units equipped to operate on the ProRail network. Each 91 m trainset will have seats for 259 passengers or 251 in the case of the dual-system units. The air-conditioned EMUs will have a maximum speed of 160 km/h. The new fleet is due to ente...

Aviation Industry

• British Airways, trustees agree on pension schemes International Airlines Group’s subsidiary British Airways said it has reached an agreement in principle with the trustees of its two main pension schemes on the schemes’ regular triennial valuations. read more
• Turkish Airlines to axe premium economy seatsCarrier confirms it will remove seating from fleet of Boeing 777s

Other News Sources

• Heathrow say residents in favour of airport expansion Bosses at Heathrow say they will provide funding for a community campaign to give a voice to people who are in favour of its expansion.
• Rail union RMT notified of emergency scheme to renationalise Great Western franchiseRAIL UNION RMT revealed today that it has been officially notified of a rescue plan to bring in the publicly owned Directly Operated Railways to run the major Great Western franchise between London, Wales and the South West, fuelling speculation that talks on a contract extension with First Group, due to be announced in the next few weeks, are in trouble.
• RMT response to ORR cuts plan at Network RailRMT response to ORR two billion cuts plan at Network Rail. General Secretary Bob Crow said

Other Subscription Services

• PR13: planned rail enhancements 2014-19 Enhancement projects in Scotland GRIP stage as o
• PR13: Train operators offered slice of savings Train operating companies will be allowed to keep a proportion of any savings th
• PR13: Surprise HLOS leaves NR playing catch-up Network Rail was not expecting many of the rail enhancements specified b
• Abellio to introduce cycle hire at 50 stations The UK's first major station cycle hire scheme is set to begin next month at Abe