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

Monday, 29 December 2014

Cogitamus

• Merry Christmas To All Our ReadersWe will be taking a little break over the holidays. TransportInfo will not be updated on 25 and 26 December 2014 and also on 1 January 2015. Well, that's unless something extraordinary happens and we can't stop ourselves…

BBC News

• New 20mph speed limits near schoolsMore speed restrictions introduced to improve safety on roads close to Swansea schools.
• Warning of icy road conditions in NIMotorists are warned of difficult driving conditions in Northern Ireland over the next 24 hours due to icy roads, mist and freezing fog.
• Call for transfer of air tax powerThe transport minister Derek Mackay calls for control over air passenger duty to be devolved to Holyrood immediately.
• 30 coaches destroyed in huge blazeA huge blaze sweeps through a depot in Merthyr Tydfil, destroying 30 coaches, five minibuses and one car.
• VIDEO: City Link staff 'face NYE redundancy'The RMT union demands a meeting with the business secretary to discuss the collapse of parcel delivery firm City Link as the union says more than 2,000 staff will be made redundant on New Year's Eve.
• Further rail disruption at stationsRail passengers are hit by further delays at London stations as over-running engineering works continued to cause disruption on Sunday night.
• Bus drivers take industrial actionBus drivers on 13 routes in east and central London are taking part in a 24-hour strike over pay and conditions.

ITV News

• No Bonus For Outgoing Network Rail BossA Network Rail boss who presided over the Christmas trains chaos will not receive a golden goodbye of more than £300,000 when he steps down in February. Robin Gisby was expected to be given a substantial "incentive" payment of up to £371,000 when he leaves his post as managing director of network operations. But Network Rail has confirmed that as he is leaving the company at the end of February, he will not be entitled to the bonus.

Financial Times

• Weather hampers Greek ferry rescueOne reported dead after fire breaks out on Adriatic ship
• Search resumes for AirAsia aircraftPassenger jet with 162 people on board missing over Java Sea since Sunday
• AirAsia jet likely ‘at bottom of the sea’Head of Indonesia search team says missing aircraft has probably crashed

The Guardian

• Snow and ice leave thousands stranded in French AlpsTwo die during freak snowfalls while angry tourists accuse authorities of disorganised response to bad weather conditionsFreak snowfalls and ice stranded more than 15,000 vehicles on Sunday in the French Alps, where two people died in the extreme weather and crowds of skiers, including many British holidaymakers, bedded down at Chambéry airport.An orange weather alert, the second highest, was in force in four departments, where authorites opened makeshift emergency centres on Saturday night in gyms and schools that were quickly overwhelmed by frustrated motorists.This is Chambery ai...
• Network Rail must sack management over Christmas disruptions – Tory MPSir Nicholas Soames criticises rail leadership for decisions connected to chaos of King’s Cross engineering works and other servicesSir Nicholas Soames, the senior Conservative backbencher, has called for sackings at Network Rail, claiming there had been a fundamental breakdown in the management and leadership of Britain’s railway industry.Soames, an MP for Mid Sussex, the heart of the commuter belt, said he was horrified by the travesty of the railway industry’s performance over Christmas, adding he was sure the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, felt a similar sense of outrage. Continu...
• Cold weather warning for motorists as temperatures fall to -10C in parts of UKNo further significant snowfall expected in the coming days but drivers advised to beware of icy conditionsLarge parts of Britain are expected to wake up to severe weather conditions on Monday, with temperatures forecast to drop below freezing overnight and to as low as -10C in rural areas.Although further significant snowfall is not expected in the coming days, the RAC is warning people to be prepared for icy conditions on the roads. The Met Office said the west of Britain was most likely to suffer from lingering patches of freezing fog. Continue reading...
• Rescuers battle through night to save passengers on burning Italian ferryItalian coastguard says 201 of the 478 people on the Greece to Italy ferry evacuated by early MondayMore than 200 people were still trapped on a burning ferry between Italy and Albania on Monday morning, despite Italian, Greek and Albanian crews working in rough, freezing conditions through the night to rescue them.Ships and helicopters fought choppy seas and strong winds in the dark in a race against time to rescue passengers still left aboard the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic. Continue reading...
• AirAsia QZ8501 likely to be on sea floor, says rescue official – rolling reportHopes are fading that 162 people aboard an AirAsia flight that went missing in storms over the Java sea on Sunday will be found safeStorm clouds may be key clue to disappearanceNo distress call, no red flags, no sign of wreckageSearch for missing plane halted on Sunday nightTony Fernandes, the millionaire behind AirAsia 5.28pm AEST Welcome to our rolling coverage of the search for the missing AirAsia flight. I’ll be taking over our coverage from my colleague Michael Safi.There has been considerable attention on the man behind AirAsia, Tony Fernandes. Here’s a profile from my colleague Gwyn Top...

The Independent

• Minister 'chuffed' with success of Britain's railways, despite delays Tory transport minister Claire Perry has drawn ridicule for “toasting the success” of the railways when thousands of passengers faced hours of delay in the bitter cold.

The Scotsman

• Network Rail ‘deeply sorry’ for ruined plansAN investigation has been launched after thousands of passengers’ travel plans were plunged into chaos due to over-running engineering works.

The Telegraph

• Fury at £371,000 bonus for rail chaos chiefRobin Gisby, Network Rail executive responsible for Christmas engineering chaos, in line for £371,000 bonus after taking home nearly £1 million this year
• Network Rail: Sorry is the easiest word and it doesn't washNetwork Rail's limp excuses highlight the need for a government review of our railways

Daily Express

• Action is called for to end nation’s potholes disgraceSCOTLAND’S councils are paying out millions of pounds to motorists whose cars have been damaged by potholes.

Mail Online

• British tourists among thousands stranded in French Alps by heavy snowfalls that leave one dead More than 15,000 vehicles were stranded today in the French Alps as heavy snow covered roads leading to the region's popular ski resorts.
• Missing AirAsia flight is the latest flaw in Indonesia's troubled airline history which has recorded the deaths of almost 650 people in two decades The distressing disappearance of AirAsia flight is the latest in Indonesia's checkered airline history which has recorded the deaths of almost 650 people in two decades.
• One passenger dead and hundreds of passengers remain trapped on blazing ferry off Corfu One person has died and another injured while trying to escape the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, which caught alight as it travelled from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy yesterday.
• Shame of rail chaos fat cat: Signalmen using FLAGS to control 125mph trains, passengers forced to stand from London to Edinburgh, and guess where £675k-a-year boss is... at his holiday cottage in Cornwall Mark Carne can expect the boost on top of his £675,000 Network Rail salary despite missing a series of performance targets and inflicting misery on thousands of Christmas travellers.
• This rail fiasco has a solution that's staring us in the face: MICHAEL WILLIAMS believes reopening disused lines could be the answer  The fiasco of the past few days on the railways is more than a joke - cast your mind back 60 years and if King's Cross was closed you could pop down to Marylebone, writes MICHAEL WILLIAMS.
• DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Who cares about the fare-paying public?  To Network Rail bosses, the engineering fiasco over the weekend was merely an 'unfortunate' glitch, but to thousands of passengers struggling to get home after Christmas it caused sheer misery.

The Mirror

• Italy ferry fire: British show jumper airlifted to safety from blazing ship but 'dad-of-two remains on board'Nick Channing-Williams, along with his Greek fiance Regina Theoffili, 33, have been successfully rescued from the vessel. A British dad called 'Marcus' is still believed to be on the vessel
• Missing AirAsia flight QZ8501: Plane 'was flying too slow' when it encountered bad weather conditionsAviation expert Geoffrey Thomas believes the pilot of the Airbus 320-200 made a mistake in his efforts to avoid poor weather en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore

This is Money

• Big flight delays experienced by more than a fifth of air travellers Only 38 per cent of them have claimed the compensation to which they were entitled, the poll of 7,729 Which? members found.

Sky News

• No Bonus For Outgoing Network Rail BossNo Bonus For Outgoing Network Rail Boss

Bolton News

• Youngsters call on transport companies to bring down travel costs A GROUP of youngsters from across Bolton are calling on local transport companies to bring down the price of bus travel.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Arriva accused of 'massive rail fail' after 150 passengers unable to board packed trainHolyhead to Brimingham service  so packed that six rail users had to sit in the driver's cab

Metro

• Italian ferry fire: 190 rescued from ship off Italian coastAmong those rescued was British show-jumper Nicholas Channing-Williams, according to reports.

Northern Echo

• Highways bosses accused of aggravating road safety problems at A66 blackspot HIGHWAYS bosses have been accused of aggravating safety problems on a major road after making changes to a junction.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• MP: Plan to axe hundreds of City Link jobs 'appalling'An MP has described plans to axe hundreds of City Link workers on New Year's Eve 'appalling'.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Leeds and Wakefield: ‘Potholes cash won’t fix bigger road woes’COUNCIL chiefs in Leeds and Wakefield say £67m of new Government funding to repair pothole ridden roads across the two cities over the next six years is nowhere near enough to address the problem.

Other Regional Press

• Snow and ice warning over New Year getawaysAs the Christmas festivities end and the New Year getaway begins, road and travel agencies are urging people to take care while driving in hazardous conditions.

C.N.N.

• AirAsia statement on missing airliner

EIN News Subscription

• Search for Missing AirAsia Plane Widens … U.S. and European safety officials, and international air-safety experts have expressed … International Air Transport Association’s 2013 report. Those on board Sunday’s AirAsia … members. State-owned AirNav Indonesia, which provides air-navigation services, said the AirAsia plane took …