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

Monday, 03 November 2014

BBC News

• Arriva apologises for smaller trainsArriva Trains Wales apologises to passengers for a shortage of carriages caused by leaves on the line, a train hitting a tree and freight services breaking down on the track.
• Oyster-style bus cards rolled outBritain's biggest bus companies are to bring in Oyster-style smart ticketing in England's largest urban areas.
• 'Coolest car in London' saves livesThe car that could cut deaths from cardiac arrests
• Charity defends airport green taxThe conservation charity WWF Scotland cautions against moves to scrap Air Passenger Duty for departures from Scotland.

Financial Times

• Pilot action had role in spaceship crashHead of NTSB says too early to blame accident on fully on pilot error
• Showman or businessman for Virgin?As both an entrepreneur and adventurer, Richard Branson must choose which persona dominates
• Industry demands rise in road spendingManufacturers warn that poor state of road network will hinder growth

The Guardian

• Virgin SpaceShipTwo crash not end of Galactic project, says Richard Branson - videoVirgin Group's founder Richard Branson answers questions on the future of his Virgin Galactic project, after SpaceShipTwo crashed in California's Mojave desert during a test flight on Friday. Branson says that if the problem can be fixed, he expects the project to be back on track in four to six months time. The National transportation safety board said on Saturday that based on the spread of debris, SpaceShipTwo is likely to have broken up mid-flight Continue reading...
• Manchester Metrolink line opens more than a year ahead of scheduleLaunch of £400m airport tram link shows value of not micro-managing everything from Whitehall, says local transport bossBig transport infrastructure projects tend to follow the same narrative as an episode of Grand Designs. Just as each home builder ends up admitting to Kevin McCloud that they have vastly outspent their original budget and wildly overrun their build time, so ambitious public transport schemes seem to come in way later and at a far higher cost than originally projected.But while Berlins airport is more than four years late and Edinburghs truncated tramline cost £375m ...
• Virgin Galactic descent function activated early, say crash investigatorsFeathering function deployed early and fuel tanks and engine were found intact, indicating no explosionUS investigators say that a feathering function, designed to help the Virgin Galactic space plane descend, deployed early during the crash, and that the crafts fuel tanks and engine were found intact.Fifteen federal US investigators have been combing the site of the fatal crash in Californias Mojave desert, as questions surfaced about the unconventional fuel propulsion system used to blast the craft up to space. Continue reading...

The Herald

• Virgin Galactic allowed to continue test flightsVIRGIN Galactic will be able to continue test flights while a lengthy investigation into the Virgin Galactic spacecraft crash takes place.

The Telegraph

• A285 stretch is UK's most dangerous roadSection of road between Chichester and Petworth has the most consistently high levels of serious and fatal accidents in Britain

City AM

• Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye wants the City to speak up for airport expansionFor most of us, airports are a necessary headache a couple of times a year. For others, they are the root of all evil. Which is probably why the debate over airport expansion has rumbled on for so long and become one of the most divisive in modern British politics.
• The only way is Oyster, as Essex commuters tap in with new techTHOUSANDS of commuters based in Essex will benefit from Oyster-style travel cards on trains from today. The c2c Smart card will allow c2c season ticket holders to “tap and go,” for journeys into London’s Fenchurch Street, as well as outside the capital, speeding up the commuting process and making season tickets more secure. It is part of the government’s push to introduce smart tickets for all train operators in London and the south east. The scheme has already proven popular on local journeys, with over 1,000 journeys made using the cards last week. It will be rolled out to daily ...

Mail Online

• Ego, PR spin and a disaster waiting to happen: Branson's biographer on how the Virgin tycoon is scrabbling to save what remains of his reputation - and his fortune Friday’s test flight was meant to mark the beginning of Branson's fightback against critics who, for the past decade, have damned his space business as dangerous, writes TOM BOWER.

Network Rail

• Major refurbishment to key York rail bridge gets underwayThe most significant work to the Scarborough rail bridge in York for 140 years will start in November.

Birmingham Post

• Rail boost for North 'will benefit this region' Sir David Higgins, chairman of the planned new high speed rail line, said the new network would help the rest of the country achieve economic success
• Innovation Birmingham's forum on cutting carbon emissions Innovation Birmingham's

Bolton News

• Train passengers should take time out to think of the less able Reporter Dale Haslam continues his regular column about his daily train commute in and out of Bolton.

Manchester Evening News

• Rail bosses ‘deeply disappointed’ over further delays to electrification of the Liverpool to Manchester lineElectric trains were promised to go live in December as part of the £400m upgrade in the north west - but that now looks set to be February
• Greater Manchester's buses to benefit from 'smart-ticketing' Stagecoach, First, Arriva, Go Ahead and National Express have joined forces to bring in the 'Oyster-style' cards, similar to London

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Two millionth Nissan Qashqai rolls off Sunderland production lineStaff at the Nissan car plant in Sunderland have hit the manfacturing milestone in record timing

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Rail passengers travelling through Leeds set to soarAmbitious plans could see the number of people using Leeds train station rise by nearly 50 PER CENT, according to transport bosses.
• Transport bosses identify region’s ‘riskiest’ roadA stretch of road between Leeds and Wakefield has been singled out as the most dangerous in Yorkshire.

North Wales Live

• WATCH: Shocking footage shows bus driver ranting at passenger The man was told 'Shut your face – you got on the wrong bus' - a driver has since been suspended

The Shields Gazette

• Sunderland Nissan plant celebrates two millionth QashqaiSUNDERLAND car plant Nissan is celebrating a motoring milestone.

Other Regional Press

• Re-calculation for delay repay cash 'rubs salt in the wound' for rail passengers COMMUTERS are getting less money back from a rail operator when they claim compensation after suffering delays.
• Campaigners welcome Heathrow's plans to move incineratorWith the new 15-mile 'green ring' around Stanwell, plans are afoot for a park, all-weather sports pitch and new flood defenses

The Business Desk

• Birmingham Airport takes a bite out of the Big Apple as American Airlines announces JFK routeDIRECT flights between Birmingham Airport and New York’s JFK Airport will begin next May, the airport has announced.It has secured a deal with American Airlines which will see the US company start daily routes to and from the Big Apple, beginning on Friday May 8
• Jet2 owner sets aside £17m for flight delay casesDART Group, the parent company of lesiure airline Jet2, has set aside £17m to cover potential historical claims after an appeal to the Supreme Court surrounding a flight delay case was rejected.
• Leeds trolleybus scheme public inquiry endsA PUBLIC inquiry into a £250m trolleybus system for Leeds has ended.

Other News Sources

• M3 set for revamp in £174 million projectThe £174 million project, due to be completed by 2017, will target a stretch of road which hosts around 130,000 car journeys everyday