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

Saturday, 18 January 2014

BBC News

• PM announces A47 study will also examine A12A study of the A47 in the East of England will also look at improving the A12 between Norfolk and Suffolk, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.
• Airport car park consent quashedThe Department of the Environment wins a legal challenge to planning permission being granted for a car park near Belfast International Airport.
• City airport hails 'best ever year'George Best Belfast City Airport has said it enjoyed one of its most successful years ever in 2013, with passenger numbers up by 13% to 2.5m.
• VIDEO: No 'panic' over airport capacityPM says there is no panic over airport expansion
• Disabled people 'locked out of Tube'Disabled people were locked out of London Underground stations 162 times last year, a charity says.
• CCTV appeal over lost Tube touristA CCTV image is released in an appeal about the whereabouts of Romanian tourist who was last seen at a south London Tube station.
• East Coast mainline bidders revealedFirstGroup, Eurostar and Virgin are among the companies named on a shortlist of bidders to run the East Coast mainline rail route.

Financial Times

• East Coast bidders raise eyebrowsFirstGroup and Stagecoach will face stiff competition from SNCF to secure the franchise to run the East Coast mainline when it is privatised next year
• UPS profit warning on gift delivery chaosLate deliveries to customers because of the compressed US peak gift-giving season will cut almost 14% from the group’s fourth-quarter earnings
• Sandell calls for FirstGroup plan detailsTom Sandell, founder of Sandell Asset Management, says UK-based FirstGroup has to give investors more information at its capital markets day
• £750,000 salary for HS2 construction chiefSimon Kirby will follow new chair Sir David Higgins from Network Rail in the first appointment of a senior executive for the controversial high-speed rail project

The Guardian

• HS2 appoints new chief executive on six times his predecessor's salarySimon Kirby of Network Rail given task of driving down cost of high-speed project amid concerns over rising budgetA new chief executive has been appointed to run HS2 at a salary of £750,000 – six times that of the current boss of the high-speed rail project.In one of his first acts as the new HS2 chairman, the outgoing Network Rail chief executive, Sir David Higgins, has recruited one of his old colleagues, Simon Kirby, the track operator's managing director of infrastructure projects, as chief executive.Higgins was brought in to steer home the controversial £42.6bn scheme on time and budget, ...

The Herald

• Coach firm flouted driver licence rulesAN EDINBURGH coach firm which operated school buses in the city has been banned from using half its fleet in February after flouting licence rules.
• Three key bidders for East Coast lineThe Government has published a shortlist of three bidders under plans to re-privatise the East Coast rail mainline

The Independent

• Police to be issued with new scanners which can instantly call up motorists' licenses in road-side checksRules that grant stopped motorists seven days to present their driving licence at a police station will be swept away under plans to issue officers with hand-held machines that will instantly call up licences.    

The Telegraph

• HS2 hire Network Rail chief on £750,000 a yearHS2 risks controversy by hiring a Network Rail executive on £750,000 a year to help run the project    
• What could you do with HS2 boss's salary of £750,000?The company, behind the high-speed rail project, HS2, has hired the former Network Rail MD of infrastructure, Simon Kirby, on a salary of £750,000 a year    
• Cyclists have been unfairly punished for too longAs a minister urges police to show restraint when cyclists flout the rules of the road, Chris Harvey says it's high time bike users were given a break    
• Elderly drivers should alert other motorists to their age - study recommendsSurvey of drivers by the AA found that almost half would leave more space in front and avoid tailgating if they were following a car driven by somebody elderly    

Mail Online

• HS2 boss gets £750,000 salary: Huge salary for construction chief even though project may not go aheadSimon Kirby, 48, was yesterday appointed as construction chief for the £50billion project, which faces opposition from residents and environmental groups.

Birmingham Post

• New HS2 chairman to draw on Olympic experienceSir David Higgins was chief executive of the London 2012 Summer Olympics Delivery Authority.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Leeds-Bradford International Airport and Jet2.com pick up top honours Leeds-Bradford International Airport and airline Jet 2 have scooped national industry ‘Oscars’.

Derby Telegraph

• Derby Telegraph published Road chaos as M1 in Derbyshire shut for seven hours after crashA CRASH involving two lorries and a car caused traffic chaos yesterday, with a stretch of the M1 being closed for seven hours.The smash happened on the southbound carriageway just north of junction 28, at South Normanton, at 8.15am.A large amount of oil, as well as some agricultural bleach, leaked on to the road and the clean-up operation meant it did not reopen until about 3.15pm.Motorists took to social networking site Twitter to voice their frustrations.Mark Thorley referred to the crash as...

London Evening Standard

• French look to up stake in Britain’s railwayThe French could be running more of Britain’s transport network after state transport group Keolis/Eurostar was named one of three shortlisted bidders for the reprivatisation of the East Coast franchise.

Manchester Evening News

• HS2 construction boss to start on yearly salary of £750,000 Simon Kirby, set to join HS2 in September, is currently head of infrastructure at Network Rail, where he is guiding the £25bn scheme to improve the country’s railways.

Northern Echo

• Department for Transport puts Aycliffe engineering college back on trackTRANSPORT ministers have thrown their support behind a bid to set up a new North-East engineering centre of excellence for vital skills training. The Northern Echo has seen a letter sent by Transport Minister Stephen Hammond urging Lord Nash, the Schools Minister to approve an ambitious bid for a university technical college (UTC) in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Nottingham Post published T-junction opens on new route for tramArticle

Sheffield Telegraph

• Bus lanes and gates generate £155,000 surplus for councilFines from motorists who were snapped in camera-controlled bus and tram lanes and gates in Sheffield produced a surplus of £155,000 for the council last year, according to the latest figures.

The York Press

• Bus subsidy cuts may be almost double than originally planned COUNCIL officials are pushing for £2 million cuts from North Yorkshire’s bus subsidies – almost double what was originally planned – to help balance the books at the authority.

Yorkshire Post

• Campaigners call on MPs to restore Ripon railway linkCampaigners are calling for the re-opening of an historic rail link across North Yorkshire to deliver a major boost to the rural economy and reduce road congestion.

Doncaster Free Press

• Bids for Doncaster’s main line trains are announcedThe shortlist of bidders being invited to deliver proposals for improved services for Doncaster passengers on the InterCity East Coast rail franchise was announced by the government today.    

Peterborough Telegraph

• Bidders named to battle for right to run rail services at PeterboroughThe shortlist of bidders seeking to run rail services on the East Coast Main Line which runs through Peterborough has been announced by transport bosses.

Sleaford Standard

• Traffic warning as footbridge transported along A17 near Sleaford to BostonMotorists are being told to expect slow-moving vehicles on the A17 near Sleaford on Sunday (January 19) while a footbridge is transported from Newark to Boston.    

Other Regional Press

• Tug of war over Heathrow future as Labour raises job fearsA bid to work towards a 'better not bigger' Heathrow Airport was defeated at last night's meeting of the full Hillingdon Council, as a Labour group motion aimed at safeguarding jobs was headed off by unanimous Conservative opposition.
• Network Rail issues apology over Bedford to Brighton train cancellationsNETWORK Rail has apologised to customers after overhead wire problems caused major delays on services between Bedford and Brighton this morning (Friday, January 17).
• Thameslink route rail disruption to continueDisruption on the Thameslink rail service will continue for the rest of Friday, train operators have confirmed.

Bus and Coach.com

• Wrights wins lion’s share of First orderWrightbus is the big winner in First’s new vehicle order announced today (17 January) with the StreetLite Micro Hybrid comprising 274 of the total of 425 vehicles ordered.
• LEZ proposed for Brighton busesBrighton and Hove city council is proposing that all buses running in central Brighton meet Euro 5 emissions limits from 1 January 2015.
• ADL, Volvo keep lead but lose shareThere was a slight drop in the number of new purpose-built buses and coaches supplied to UK operators in 2013.
• Losses cut but turnover down at OptareOptare made a loss of £800,000 in the six months to 30 September 2013, an improvement over the same period in 2012 when it lost £1.

Global Rail News

• Kirby to become new HS2 chief executiveNetwork Rail’s Simon Kirby, the man leading some of Britain’s biggest rail infrastructure projects, has been appointed by HS2 to manage construction of the £42 billion high-speed rail system. Kirby,[...]
• East Coast franchise shortlist announcedThe British government has released the names of three bidders who will be invited to submit proposals to operate the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015. First Group is the[...]
• ABB traction transformers to power high-speed rail line in Saudi ArabiaABB is to supply 72 traction transformer sets to power trains on a new desert railway between Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia’s 450-kilometre Haramain high-speed railway will create a much-needed[...]
• Lille Eurostar departure lounge to undergo €3m rennovationLille’s Eurostar passenger departure lounge is to benefit from a €3 million makeover to accomodate the growing number of international passengers visiting the city. Work will begin in March to[...]

Railnews

• Another Network Rail director moves to HS2 A second member of top management at Network Rail is moving to a post at HS2 Ltd, the Government's development company for domestic High Speed Rail. Network Rail's managing director of infrastructure projects, Simon Kirby, is to be chief executive, construction, from 1 June. His present boss, Network Rail chief executive David Higgins, is currently working his last few weeks at Network Rail before taking up the full-time job of executive chairman of HS2 Ltd on 1 March.
• Shortlist for East Coast franchise announced The Department for Transport has revealed the list of contenders who have been shortlisted to take over the East Coast franchise in early 2015. The return of East Coast to the private sector is a controversial move, which has been opposed by rail unions and others. It was taken over by the DfT's subsidiary Directly Operated Railways in November 2009, after National Express Group had been forced to withdraw when revenue failed to meet expectations. However, the DfT is pushing ahead with what will effectively be a sale of the existing operator, offered as a going concern.
• More severe weather floods main line tunnel Train services have been badly disrupted between London and Brighton, after heavy rain overnight. Network Rail said 'water was flowing above the rails' in Balcombe Tunnel. Pumps have been used to reduce the flood level, and a limited service began during the morning. But further problems could lie ahead, because more rain is forecast in the area. Train services on the Brighton Main Line have been diverted via Horsham and Arundel, while First Capital Connect services to Brighton have encountered further delays, this time north of London, because of an overhead line fault at Hendon which means ...

Aviation Industry

• Ryanair in major management reshuffleThe changes come as the airline implements its strategy of improving its industry battered customer service record and staving off competition from the likes of EasyJet.

Other News Sources

• Docklands Light Railway workers to strike, RMT confirmsUnion members to strike after breakdown in relations