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

Sunday, 25 May 2014

BBC News

• London cycle hire race to be held at Smithfield MarketThe capital's first official cycle hire race is to be held in east London on Saturday 7 June.
• 'Progress' made in rail jobs talksLondon Midland workers will not be balloted for industrial action after a
• Edinburgh launches Chicago air linkThe first direct flight service between Edinburgh and Chicago is launched by American carrier United Airlines.

The Guardian

• Stagecoach boss under attack over homes plan on £1 Kent airportMulti-millionaire Ann Gloag pledged to keep Manston airport open but now local people are up in arms over closureShe is never far from controversy, and now Scotland's richest businesswoman has found herself at the centre of another row, this time south of the border.Ann Gloag's decision to close an airport that she bought for £1 last year and then seek to build up to 1,000 homes on the site has created an unholy brouhaha that has sucked in everyone from the prime minister down.

The Herald

• Waverley work to begin after road tragedyWORK to improve pedestrian access around Edinburgh's Waverley Station will begin on Monday, just a week after a minister died in a road accident in the area.

The Scotsman

• Traffic chaos after tram breaks down during info eventA faulty Edinburgh tram brought traffic to a standstill in the centre of Edinburgh yesterday.
• Bill Jamieson: Losing track of the railway debtICKING away in the dark and creepy storehouse of the UK government off-balance-sheet debt is an item yet to be configured in the liabilities of an independent Scotland: the debt liabilities of the railway network – and Scotland’s share of these on Independence Day. The figure is set to be as high as £3.6 billion this year, yet no mention of this has been made in the Scottish Government’s White Paper.

Times Online

• Planes, trains and organs. Am I a nutter? Of course, I’m a nutter [Subscription]Most business titans hide their foibles behind their vast desks. They would rather gnaw off their own limbs than admit what they get up to in private. Paul Griffiths is not like most business titans. “My biggest obsession, which hardly anyone knows about,” he says, as he ushers me behind his desk, “is I collect model railway locomotives. Would you like to see some pictures?”
• All change, please, all change: Go-Ahead wins battle to run UK rail super-franchise [Subscription]Twenty years ago, it was a small private company running the buses in Brighton. From September, Go-Ahead Group has been given the keys to Europe’s biggest and most complicated commuter rail network.

Mail Online

• HS2 at serious risk of failure after being placed on 'amber-red' warning Spending watchdogs say successful delivery of the HS2 line, which will run from London to Birmingham and then onwards to the North, remains ‘in doubt’.

London Evening Standard

• Political fix for Gatwick expansion, claims Mayor A “political fix” is putting Gatwick in pole position for a new runway, Boris Johnson claimed as he appealed to the aviation commission to instead back his plan for a Thames estuary airport to meet growing demand.

Manchester Evening News

• Budget airline launches three new summer routes from ManchesterMalta, Antalya and Kephalonia are all on offer for Manchester travellers

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Major £800,000 upgrade planned for A1 in GatesheadDrivers will face diversions and road closures as transport chiefs carry out major resurfacing work on the A1 in Gateshead
• Remember When: Felling railway station - then and nowHow an unused trackside curiosity at Felling in Gateshead is a relic of Tyneside's railway revolution

Sheffield Telegraph

• Further delays in Sheffield tram worksTram customers will face further disruption as the ongoing £32million rail replacement project moves into a new phase next week.

The York Press

• Trainspotters' stories wanted for new exhibition TRAINSPOTTERS in North Yorkshire have been urged to share their stories with the National Railway Museum, as part of a new exhibition.

Sunderland Echo

• ‘Think of the children’ – transport bosses call for scrapping of Sunderland One Direction day Metro strikeTRANSPORT chiefs have called on Metro and its drivers to halt the planned strike on the day of One Direction’s Sunderland gig.

Other Regional Press

• Northamptonshire village heralds the opening of new link road todayA procession of lorries, emergency vehicles and a volunteer fire brigade engine, were among the first vehicles to travel on Northamptonshire’s new multi-million pound Corby Link Road today.

Bus and Coach.com

• VW to take control of ScaniaVW Group is to take control of Scania.
• Good year for London busesLondon’s bus network carried more passengers in 2013/14 than in any year since 1959, with over 2.
• Weather to hit NatEx profitsAll UK divisions of National Express Group have delivered strong growth, supported by rising passenger demand, according to an interim management report released last week covering the period from 1 January.
• Wrightbus looks for overseas expansionWrightbus is creating 130 new jobs and investing £13million in five research and development projects to support the introduction of new export models with the aim of trebling overseas sales in five years.
• £20million funding for Belfast BRTForty high-specification buses costing £20million – that’s £500,000 each - are to be ordered for the Belfast bus rapid transit service.
• Find your bus on Google MapsThe Google Maps service has been updated to provide information on every bus and train service in Great Britain.
• First returns profit, but no dividendFirstGroup revenue for the year to 31 March was £6,717million, down 2,7 per cent from the 2013 figure of £6,900million.
• Optare strikes loomingA work-to-rule and two days of strikes were announced by trade union Unite on the day Optare unveiled its long-awaited new MetroDecker integral double-deck.
• MetroDecker launched by Optare Optare is back as a builder of double-decker buses for UK and world markets.
• Go-Ahead quits USAAfter less than five years Go-Ahead is about to make an abrupt exit from North America, winding up its 50:50 joint venture with Cook-Illinois following the loss of its contract in St Louis, Missouri.

Green Miscellany

• Skylock: Smart tech transforms the bicycle D-LockCycle thieves will soon face Skylock – a smart technology-equipped D-Lock that texts its owner if it is being tampered with. Cycle Insurance from 40p per week Get your quote Your bike’s in safe hands: Cover for theft, damage, new-for-old replacement, £1m liability, Europe & worldwide travel… While the fundamental design of the bicycle has remained unchanged for 100 years,…

Other News Sources

• O'Hare noise a pain to changing cast of neighborhoodsMost of us like to think of ourselves as good people — kind-hearted souls who mourn other people's misfortune, sympathetic types who would hate to see our neighbors suffer. But any notions I may have had about my own generosity of spirit have been shattered by the recent rounds of changes in the runway configurations at O'Hare.
• Eindhoven Airport enhances communication with communityWith a world-first public airport operations tool, the Netherland’s second busiest airport is ready to grow while maintaining good community relations In order for Eindhoven Airport to grow, Eindhoven Airport made an agreement at the Netherland’s ’Alderstafel’ advisory committee to enhance communication with the local community about airport operations, complaint handling and noise measurements