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

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

BBC News

• Rail fares to rise by 1% in JanuaryRegulated rail fares such as season tickets are to rise by 1% in January, the Department of Transport says.
• Fresh talks to avoid rail strikeMore talks are being held in a bid to avoid walkouts by rail workers at First Great Western.
• Jaguar worker injured by car bodyA Jaguar Land Rover worker is injured when a car's body shell fell on him on the production line.
• VIDEO: Bridge 'major lifeline' of villageBusiness owners claim bridge maintenance work as part of electrifying the main railway line in south Wales could damage trade.
• Electrifying rail line trade concernWork to electrify the main rail line in south Wales could damage trade, claim small businesses along the route.
• VIDEO: Manchester sinkhole causes delaysDrivers who normally use one of Manchester's busiest roads could face weeks of delays.
• Parcel firm signs new hub dealParcel delivery firm DPD signs a deal with construction firm Dandara for a new distribution hub for the north east of Scotland.
• Icelandair to launch Aberdeen routeAberdeen Airport receives a welcome boost after Icelandair announces a new service between the Granite City and Reykjavik.
• Share offer hopes to secure harbourResidents of Portpatrick in Galloway are being asked to buy a stake in their local harbour.
• A defining disaster for air travelThirty years on, could the Manchester air disaster ever happen again?
• Sinkhole road to remain closedA busy Manchester road which partly collapsed when a sinkhole suddenly appeared is to remain closed for at least 10 days.
• VIDEO: Ejected stag party denies wrongdoingA group of London businessmen are threatening legal action after being thrown off a flight as they tried to return from a stag party.
• VIDEO: Man hunted after 'keying £100k car'Police are trying to trace a man caught on camera allegedly keying a £100,000 Aston Martin in an east London car park.
• Airbus signs off record IndiGo dealAirbus has finalised a deal with Indian budget airline IndiGo for the largest number of jets it has sold in a single order.
• Rail fares 'rise faster than wages'Rail fares have risen nearly three times faster than wages over the past five years, new analysis suggests.

Financial Times

• Train commuters left ‘out of pocket’Rail fares have risen almost three times faster than wages during past five years

The Guardian

• Rail fares forecast to rise 1% after latest inflation dataIncrease comes despite claims from campaigners that train tickets are rising three times faster than wages and service is deterioratingRail fares are expected to rise by 1% from January after the announcement of July’s Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation figure, which helps determine regulated train fares for the next year.Details of the rise follows a study which claims that season tickets and other regulated fares have increased nearly three times faster than wages over the past five years. Continue reading...
• Drunk airBaltic crew included co-pilot at seven times legal alcohol limitSecond officer given six months’ jail while captain and flight attendants also face proceedings after tip-off stopped them taking charge of flight from Norway Related: Korean Air 'nut rage' woman freed from jail A Norwegian court has sentenced a Latvian airBaltic co-pilot to six months in jail after he failed a breathalyser test before take-off from Oslo’s airport. Continue reading...
• Unions protest as rail fares rise three times faster than wages over five yearsAction for Rail calls for renationalisation, saying season tickets and regulated fares have increased by 25% since 2010 compared with 9% for average payRail unions are holding a protest on Tuesday to highlight their claim that rail fares have risen nearly three times faster than wages over the past five years.Campaigners at Waterloo station will hand out postcards highlighting the cost of rail privatisation and demanding a return of the railways to public ownership. Continue reading...

The Herald

• Edinburgh Airport sorry after Bannatyne Twitter rebukeFORMER Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne received an apology from airport operators after he complained about a hold-up on his way to Edinburgh.
• Full steam ahead as historic Loch Lomond ship secures major cash boostTHE last ever paddle steamer built in the UK has secured a promise of nearly £4 million to return to its glory on Loch Lomond.
• Edinburgh Airport: Staff bore the brunt of customers' frustrationAIRPORT chiefs said a recruitment drive and redrawn action plan have been launched to help tackle delays.

The Independent

• Queen Mary 2: Crew reportedly banned from drinking alcohol after chef 'throws himself overboard' Crew members on-board the Queen Mary 2 have reportedly banned from drinking alcohol after a Chilean chef was suspected of throwing himself overboard in the early hours of Saturday.
• Car-hacking scandal: How a security loophole left thousands of vehicles vulnerable to thieves Tens of thousands of cars are vulnerable to thieves using electronic hacking, according to researchers whose findings were suppressed by a major manufacturer for two years.

The Scotsman

• Rail prices rise ‘three times faster than wages’Rail fares have risen nearly three times faster than wages over the past five years, leaving commuters “seriously out of pocket”, according to a new 
report.

The Telegraph

• Ministers must help commuters travel further to get better jobs, says Policy ExchangePolicy Exchange said that 'making it easier for people to commute twenty minutes further would put them in touch of at least one major urban area and potentially 10,000 more job opportunities'
• South West Trains scraps cut-price fare on VJ DayAnger as rail firm suspends cheap tickets deal on day hundreds of veterans travel by train to London for VJ Day 70th anniversary commemorations
• Tube worker dupes Welsh Assembly into paying her their £104,000 cleaning billThe London underground worker sent the Assembly a fake letter claiming their cleaner's bank details had changed
• Rail minister pledges instant refunds for rail delaysNew compensation scheme announced as it is revealed that commuters will face the smallest increase in rail fares since 2010 in the New Year
• Thousands of cars vulnerable to keyless theft, according to researchersPublication of findings was suppressed for two years by VW, which won an injunction by arguing the information could be used by criminal gangs

Times Online

• Passengers to get instant refunds for delayed trains (Subscription)Rail passengers will receive automatic refunds for late or cancelled trains, under new government plans. Ministers want to stop people being forced to “jump through hoops” to claim compensation amid fears that they are missing out on as much as £100 million a year. Up to nine in ten passengers fail to make regular claims for delays. Under the proposals, they could be compensated directly into their bank account or on to a

Reuters News

• London City Airport owners pick Credit Suisse for possible 2 billion pound saleLONDON (Reuters) - London City Airport's owners have picked Credit Suisse to advise them on a potential sale that could value the business at as much as 2 billion pounds, two sources close to the deal said on Monday.

City AM

• Can shipping brokers ride out the rougher seas?Commodity turmoil could blow the shipping industry off course. THE WIDER effects of stormy conditions in the global commodities market are emer­ging as more companies reveal tumbling earnings. Shipping company Clarksons yes­terday published profits of £6.2m, down 36.7 per cent on the first six months of the previous year, citing “severe challenges faced by the dry bulk market” (of unpackaged raw commodities) as the primary cause of the decline. As global commodity prices fall, shipping companies are suffering from the dry bulk market’s tendency to rapid fluctuations. Andi Case, Cla...
• Gatwick blasts recommendation to build third Heathrow runwayTHE CHIEF executive of Gatwick Airport has hit out at a recent commission’s recommendation that Heathrow be expanded. A 50-page catalogue of criti­cisms, published yesterday, targets the Davies Commission’s use of analysis from consultants PwC, despite its own expert panel urging caution on it. It also said the commission’s proposals, which rejected calls to expand Gatwick, used incorrect traffic estimates. “We expected a well-considered examination of all options, but instead the final report contains so many omissions and basic errors that its reliability as the basis of aviation po...
• Rail fares rose "three times faster" than wagesCommuters have been left out of pocket with rail fares rising nearly three times faster than wages over the past five years.Regulated ticket prices increased by 25 per cent between 2010 and 2015, while average pay rose nine per cent during this period, according to a study by the TUC."Rail fares have rocketed over the last five years, leaving many commuters seriously out of pocket," Frances O'Grady, general secretary at the TUC, said.Read more: New rules mean passengers can claim cash if rail journeys disruptedThe government previously pledged to ensure rail fares ...

Mail Online

• Trigana Air Service plane which crashed in Indonesia jungle was carrying $500k Search teams have found the wreckage of an Indonesian passenger plane that lost contact on Sunday and disappeared with 54 people on board. It was found about 12km from Oksibil in Papua.
• Man's Chrysler Crossfire bursts into flames just 30 minutes after he bought it Paul Gregory spent £3,700 on the convertible Crossfire, which he bought from a used-car dealer in Sevenoaks, Kent.
• Rogue Airport Parking Ltd company is fined for misleading its customers Airport Parking Ltd, based in Crawley, West Sussex, promised to park cars in a secure, 24-hour monitored location close to Gatwick Airport but instead left them unlocked in fields and with windows open.
• Cessna 152 pilots escape alive after buzzard smashed into cockpit near Hull Simon Edwards was flying under the supervision of instructor Ian Weston near Hull, Yorkshire, when the buzzard flew into the windshield of their Cessna 152 plane around 10.15am yesterday.
• Dashcam footage catches Hackney man appearing to key Aston Martin car Police released the footage and are now appealing for information about the man who was seen approaching the passenger's side of the car with a key in Hackney, east London.
• Rail prices have soared three times as fast as wages The research for the union-backed Action for Rail campaign found that season tickets and other regulated fares had increased by 25 per cent since 2010, while average pay went up by 9 per cent.
• Pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor bidding to emulate Amy Johnson hits a parked helicopter Pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor was taxiing in her vintage Boeing Stearman at Goodwood Aerodrome in West Sussex when she ploughed into a stationary helicopter.

The Mirror

• Rail fares have risen five times faster than wages prompting call for renationalisation Union leaders attacked privatisation and accused the Government of forcing the public to subsidise train company profits
• Mancunian Way sinkhole: Collapsed road 'becoming tourist attraction' as visitors flock to see massive abyss The huge hole opened up last week but has captured people's imaginations, with some even posing for selfies and creating internet memes

This is Money

• Airbus on cloud nine after signing £17bn mega-deal for 250 jets with Indian budget airline IndiGo The deal means the low-cost airline has to date ordered 530 A320 aircraft from European aerospace giant, with all the wings designed and manufactured in Britain.

Birmingham Post

• Jaguar worker tells how quick-thinking workers 'saved colleague's life' Jaguar Land Rover has now launched an investigation into the accident which took place on Monday morning

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Drivers warned not to 'fall fowl' of gaggle of geese A PARISH councillor has warned motorists to keep an eye out for a gaggle of geese using the village's roads after one of the birds flew straight into his car.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Airbus celebrates biggest ever order for aircraft worth up to £17bn to Broughton firm Indian airline wants 250 of the A320neo aircraft, boosting the Broughton firm's order book to more than 4,100

London Evening Standard

• Gatwick boss: Heathrow report 'superficial, flawed and erroneous'The boss of Gatwick today launched a blistering double attack on Sir Howard Davies’s Airports Commission and his airport’s bitter rival Heathrow.
• Revealed: The 'most dangerous' bus routes in LondonService between Victoria and Stoke Newington tops list

Manchester Evening News

• Manchester Airport rail station's fourth platform completed ahead of scheduleExpansion will give greater access to more passengers from across the north
• 'Perfect storm' of road closures delivers traffic hell in Manchester city centreEmployers are being asked to stagger start times for workers to free up space on the city's choking travel routes with both Mancunian Way and Oxford Road closed for weeks plus no trams and roadworks on Trinity Way and Portland Street

Northern Echo

• Air ambulance get new piece of life-saving kit. NEW equipment that will potentially save lives has been fitted into both Yorkshire Air Ambulance aircraft.

The York Press

• Review: Twaddle Train, Learning Platform, National Railway Museum, York, until September 6 YOU can see a load of twaddle at the National Railway Museum twice daily right now, but in a good way.

Yorkshire Post

• Race organisers want help from government as cycling returns to South YorkshireCYCLE RACING is set to return to South Yorkshire’s roads next week after the sport was temporarily suspended in the region, but stronger guidance on how to stage road races is needed from government, British Cycling said.

Carlisle News & Star

• Police van's u-turn on main road led to death of motorbiker, Carlisle court told A motorcyclist died after his bike collided with a police van performing a U-turn on a main road, a court has heard.
• Carlisle to Glasgow rail services resume after derailment cleared Rail services between Glasgow and Carlisle will resume operating as normal today after engineering work to clear a freight train which derailed more than two weeks ago was completed.
• Stagecoach: Our new Carlisle buses have more room for buggies Angry mums have branded Carlisle’s new controversial Eco buses “useless” and “rubbish” amid a call for them to be scrapped.

Crewe Chronicle

• The best used 4x4 convertibles in 2015 You need less than you think for a soft-top off-roader to take advantage of the last of the summer sun.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Rail fares outstrip wages over last five yearsRail fares have risen nearly three times faster than wages over the past five years, leaving commuters “seriously out of pocket”, according to a new report.

Reading Evening Post

• Reading's new Routemaster bus hits the streets Distinctive bus on purple 17 route

Other Regional Press

• St Albans Road (A412) closed during night this week The closure, which will be from Station Road to the Dome roundabout, will take place from 8pm to 5am from today until August 21.
• Rail commuters ‘out of pocket’ according to Tuc reportRAIL commuters are out of pocket following a rise in fares, a report has said.
• Locos relive good old days of steam CLOUDS of steam and the smell of engine oil brought historic railway life into the 21st century this week.
• One hundred new parking spaces could be created in Northampton streets following reviewResidents are being asked to give feedback on plans to help stop rail commuters taking paking spaces in Northampton streets.
• Listed: The five most popular roads on Teesside for cyclistsDepartment for Transport statistics show that hundreds of cyclists are using Teesside's roads each day - here's the busiest
• US architect wins race to design new-look Preston bus stationA New York architect has won the competition to give Preston’s iconic bus station a £13m facelift.
• Clamp down on Preston bike menaceTown Hall bosses are to clamp down on motorbike nuisance across the city.
• Ukip Thanet council leader hints at breakthroughs in discussions with RiverOak about Manston airport CPOThe leader of a Kent council has pleaded with campaigners to keep the faith over negotiations to restore Manston to an airport.
• New app launched for flagship bus service FIRST Wessex has launched a new app to accompany a flagship bus service in Dorset.
• Warning to motorists as road police unit targets speedsters in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and HertfordshireMotorists who speed will be targeted by officers from the road policing unit as part of a week-long national campaign which relaunches today.

Rail Magazine

• VIDEO: Painting the trains redVirgin Trains East Coast applies new vinyls as part of its fleet rebranding.
• Electrification cost increases first identified in 2014Network Rail first identified increases in cost forecasts for some major electrification schemes in spring 2014

Railnews

• Government launches sale of King's Cross stake The Government has started the sale of its one-third stake in the former railway lands around King's Cross station in London. The 27-hectare site is being used for a number of high-profile redevelopments, which include a controversial and currently delayed headquarters building for the internet services provider Google. The Government said the transaction would be a 'multi-million pound deal'. The land was once used for a locomotive depot and a maze of sidings, but it has not been needed for railway purposes for many years.

Aviation Industry

• AEF briefings: Airports Commission’s climate and economic analysesThe Airports Commission has claimed that a new runway at Heathrow would deliver ‘up to £147 billion benefit’ for the UK. But this figure is based on analysis that takes no account of the environmental or surface access costs of expansion. The results generated by using the Government’s cost benefit methodology meanwhile, are dramatically different: the Commission’s own figures suggest that building a third runway at Heathrow would result in a net £9 billion loss to the UK.
• Following system failure, FAA says ERAM has no ‘inherent problems’FAA said an Aug. 15 air traffic control (ATC) system failure was not caused by “any inherent problems” with its new ATC computer system. read more

Green Miscellany

• Motorcyclist comes face to face with HGV dangerA motorcyclist has captured on film the moment he came face to face with HGV danger and lived to tell the tale. If you thought the most dangerous risk from HGVs was being trapped on nearside, think again. Shocking new footage on YouTube reveals that a left turning lorry is as much of a threat to those in oncoming traffic as it is to those travelling in the same direction. The post Motorcyclist comes face to face with HGV danger appeared first on ETA.

Other News Sources

• In-Vehicle Video Surveillance Boosts Public Safety Terrorism, crime, and vandalism targeting public transit systems, such as the London bombings in July 2005, and killings on school buses and transit lines in recent years, have highlighted the importance of in-vehicle video surveillance.
• £100,000 electric-car loans on offer for Scottish businesses A new £2.5 million fund will give Scottish businesses access to an interest-free loan of up to £100,000 for electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
• Exclusive: Spanish JV completes HS2 bidders shortlistExclusive: Spanish infrastructure specialist Acciona has joined John Sisk and Lagan Construction Group in a joint venture that completes the list of firms competing for HS2 construction contracts.