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

Saturday, 28 September 2013

BBC News

• New park and ride in £10m rail spendMore than £10m is to be spent improving railway stations and services in the West Midlands, it is revealed.
• Ban threat for car parking camerasFixed cameras and what critics call spy cars used to catch people parking illegally could be banned in England by the government.
• £1.7m forest bike centre openedA £1.7m new skills and visitor centre extension is officially opened at Coed-y-Brenin forest near Dolgellau, Gwynedd.
• Speed patrol pulls over school busA school bus carrying pupils is the first vehicle stopped by police patrolling a new speed limit outside a primary school.
• Thames Estuary airport plea to mayorMedway Council calls on Mayor of London Boris Johnson to visit north Kent and explain why he wants to build an airport there.
• PM 'not ruling out' Tube strike banPrime Minister David Cameron has said he would "not rule out" banning strikes on the London Underground.

Financial Times

• Ryanair flight misery is a tie that bindsThe announcement by Michael O’Leary, the airline’s normally abrasive chief executive, of a kinder approach to customers betrays that he is worried
• Eurotunnel chief warns over job lossesThe owner of the subsea rail link is awaiting the review of a ruling that would force it to pull its MyFerryLink operation off the Dover-Calais route

The Guardian

• IPCC: 30 years to climate calamity if we carry on blowing the carbon budgetGlobal 2C warming threshold will be breached within 30 years, leading scientists report, with humans unequivocally to blameThe world's leading climate scientists have set out in detail for the first time how much more carbon dioxide humans can pour into the atmosphere without triggering dangerous levels of climate change – and concluded that more than half of that global allowance has been used up.If people continue to emit greenhouse gases at current rates, the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere could mean that within as little as two to three decades the world will face nearly inevitab...

The Herald

• Soaring fuel costs blamed as petrol sales fallPETROL sales have plunged in the first half of this year.

The Telegraph

• Direct train services planned between London and AmsterdamDirect trains services from London to Amsterdam will begin in December 2016, Eurostar has announced.    

Mail Online

• Two Virgin pilots suffered from severe fatigue on flight into UK but regulator admits they were NOT both asleepVirgin Atlantic has had to review its flight crew rosters after a pilot told official watchdogs that he and his co-pilot were 'suffering symptoms of severe fatigue'.

The Mirror

• Train travel boom leads to 10,000 new jobs on railways over 15 yearsRail services are carrying 73% more passengers, with a resultant increase in the number of people employed by train companies

Network Rail

• Work starts on new signalling and training centre in BasingstokeWork has started on a new state-of-the-art signalling and training centre which will control large areas of railway in London and the south west.

Bolton News

• Speeding Jaguar driver allowed to keep his licence - so he doesn't lose his £150,000-a-year job A HIGH-FLYING sales executive caught speeding in his luxury Jaguar was allowed to keep his licence after magistrates heard a ban would cost him his £150,000 a year job.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• A55 motorists face month of roadworks misery on Britannia Bridge Traffic lights will reduce the bridge to a single lane while the essential works take place

Derby Telegraph

• Derby Telegraph published Union leader: Support for rail cleaners' strike is rock-solidA UNION has insisted that a strike by workers who clean carriages for East Midlands Trains is "rock-solid" following the first day of a 48-hour walkout.Yesterday, cleaners working for Rentokil Initial, which cleans trains and stations on behalf of the Derby-based train operator, began a strike over pay.The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union claims Rentokil Initial is trying to "bulldoze" a freeze on improvements to pay because of "trading conditions".The...
• Derby Telegraph published Bombardier workers praised after delivering new train in record...A TRAIN operator boss has praised Bombardier's Derby workforce after the first train from a fleet it ordered entered service in "record time".This week, the Class 377 train, manufactured at the firm's Litchurch Lane plant, started operating between London Bridge and West Croydon.It is one of 26 five-carriage Electrostar trains ordered by Southern Railway.The train operator placed its order with Bombardier at the end of 2011.The deal, worth £188 million, was for a total of 130...

London Evening Standard

• Are tolerant British drivers a dying breed?Are British drivers getting ruder? More likely to cut others off at junctions, barge in at the head of road-work queues and sneak in from behind when someone’s reversing into a hard-won parking space?
• Road test: Nissan Juke n-tecIf there’s one thing I like testing as much as a new car or bike it’s a new gadget and in the Nissan Juke you get both.
• Brits ready for road race challengeChris Froome and Lizzie Armitstead will lead Great Britain in the Road World Championships road races this weekend.
• Boris Johnson told Thames cable car must accept TravelcardPassenger numbers on the Thames cable car service have nearly halved in the last 12 months putting the Mayor under pressure to make the service available under the Travelcard scheme or turn it into a privately-run tourist attraction.
• Heathrow boss hits out at Gatwick over ‘failure’ to support emerging marketsHeathrow airport today launched on an attack on Gatwick as the gloves came off between the rival airports in the debate over a new runway for the southeast.
• More than half of pilots fall asleep during flight, suggests surveySleepy pilots routinely fall asleep on the flight deck, with a survey by pilots' union Balpa suggesting more than 50 per cent do.

Manchester Evening News

• Mobility scooter driver caught on M56 motorway slip roadThe scooter had no lights on and was heading in darkness towards on-coming traffic leaving the motorway near Manchester Airport.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Bikers and motorist injured in north-east road accidentsA crash on the north-east’s busiest road caused rush-hour misery for drivers yesterday evening.

The York Press

• UPDATED: £2m flood prevention boost for York YORK has been awarded £2 million to help prevent flooding on one of the busiest roads into the city.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Bus in fireball drama amid chaos on M6This was the scene when a bus became a fireball on the M6 today, causing more than 20 miles of tailbacks on the motorway.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Leeds and West Yorkshire: M62 motorway project is now completeMotorists in West Yorkshire will benefit from less congested journeys after work to upgrade the M62 to a managed motorway has been completed.
• Big plans for disused Leeds rail viaductFive decades since trains on a soot-filled railway viaduct were stopped in their tracks, plans to revive a 144-year-old landmark are moving forward.

Yorkshire Post

• Petrol sales plunge as demand for diesel risesPetrol sales have plunged in the first half of this year.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Sudbury: Traffic improvements will not include bypassA west Suffolk town is unlikely to get a long-awaited and much-needed bypass because it would be “too expensive”, the county’s highways chief has confirmed. Suffolk County Council cabinet member for roads, Graham Newman, hosted a transport forum in Sudbury last week to discuss the future of the town’s road network, and decide how an allocated £450,000 could best be spent.

Other Regional Press

• Canal trust seeks three new people The Canal and River Trust is looking for three additional members for its Kennet and Avon Waterway Partnership.
• IN PICTURES: It's hi-vis and hard hats all round as Network Rail start building a new multi-million pound signalling hub in Basingstoke DIGNITARIES donned hard hats and hi-vis vests to see work officially start on a major Basingstoke development.
• Firm to launch new cross-Solent serviceA NEW 24-hour ferry service is set to launch in Portsmouth, taking passengers across the Solent in just 25 minutes.
• Controlled parking mooted as commuters invade roads PARKING permits could be the answer to clogged streets in Oxford’s Wood Farm and Lye Valley areas, according to a senior transport officer.

Bus and Coach.com

• Privatisation coming to Northern Ireland?Part privatisation of bus services is to be debated by the Northern Ireland Assembly,
• LTBs back roads, not busesGovernment moves to increase local control over £1,3billion in transport spending has resulted in over half of the money going on 123 schemes to build or widen roads, with only 15 schemes to provide bus facilities.
• Stagecoach warns of Tyne and Wear damageAttacking what it describes as “flawed plans” for bus contracts in Tyne and Wear, Stagecoach says they would have a massive impact on living standards for some of the area’s poorest people and discriminate against households in the south of the region.

Global Rail News

• London Gateway rail link opens early after cargo ship fireThe very first rail freight service has run out of London Gateway – two months before the port is due to open. DB Schenker was drafted in to run an[...]
• Eurostar to run London-Amsterdam services from 2016Eurostar will run direct services between London and Amsterdam from December 2016, the European rail operator has announced. The announcement has come as part a wider agreement confirmed today to[...]

London TravelWatch

• London TravelWatch expresses concerns over proposals for cashless busesLondon TravelWatch's response to TfL's consultation on cashless buses.

Railway Gazette

• SSL awarded Great Western signalling contracts UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has awarded the Signalling Solutions Ltd joint venture of Alstom and Balfour Beatty three contracts totalling £140m for signalling renewals on the Great...

Aviation Industry

• Europe to vote on new fight time rules MondayPlans to unify pilot and cabin crew flight time limitations (FTL) in Europe will hit a critical stage Monday when the European Parliament will decide whether to uphold objections to the proposed new rules. read more

Other News Sources

• CAA begins online personnel licensing applicationsAs part of a process to improve the way it handles official transactions, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will from today accept more applications online, including secure online payments. Pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers and air traffic personnel can now apply for a replacement licence or certificate online. The first licensing form to be available on the CAA's website allows anyo
• New measures outlined to boost maritime sustainability New measures to boost sustainability in the shipping industry have been outlined by the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), a coalition of global shipping leaders.
• Mountain bikes worth £11,500 stolen near Alresford THREE expensive mountain bikes have been stolen from a garden shed in a hamlet near Alresford.
• Five die as ships collide off JapanTwo cargo ships have collided south of Tokyo, killing five people in one of the vessels, Japan's coast guard says. Rescuers are searching for a sixth missing crew member.
• Maersk Line trimming capacity despite Triple-EsMAERSK Line is taking steps to control capacity despite taking delivery of five 18,000teu Triple-E ships.

EIN News Subscription

• EU Stands Firm On Aviation Emissions Position … of legal action by European airlines and pressure from European lawmakers, who criticized … penalized because the EU law still applies to European airlines. SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY As … , a lawyer with environmental group Transport & Environment. Hedegaard said that …