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

Monday, 14 September 2015

BBC News

• Guerrilla singers surprise bus passengers for art [video]Four professional singers interpret their journey on a London bus guerrilla-style to the surprise of passengers.
• Blackpool North rail strike over 'hand gel' sackingRail staff at a Lancashire station are on strike this weekend after a worker was sacked for allegedly putting hand gel in a supervisor's coffee cup.
• 'Temperamental' rail crossing to be updatedThere have been more than 15 closures of the crossing in West Dyke Road, Redcar over the past 18 months, the town's Labour MP Anna Turley said.

Financial Times

• Las Vegas opens door to Uber and LyftMillions of tourists make city one of US’s biggest ride-hailing markets

The Guardian

• Self-driving cars: from 2020 you will become a permanent backseat driverDriverless cars will revolutionise motoring, claim the manufacturers. But is the greatest danger that they will be too safe?In the BMW museum at the company’s solidly futuristic headquarters, next to the old Olympic stadium site in Munich, you can view a century of evolving mechanical desire. BMW has long prided itself in creating “ultimate driving machines” and all that Bavarian engineering pride is dramatised in the decade-by-decade progression of engines that harness ever more efficient power in steel, and car bodies that have moved with the ergonomic times. Each sequence of cars on show le...

The Independent

• Hunt for new railway regulator as shake-up of ailing industry goes onThe Department for Transport is looking for a new chairman for the rail and roads regulator, the latest sweeping change to the leadership of the beleaguered rail industry.
• Planned rail bridge connecting Manchester's Victoria and Piccadilly stations will cause 'catastrophic damage' to heritage site, say criticsWhen the world’s first passenger railway line opened between Liverpool and Manchester on 15 September 1830, it sparked an explosion in inter-city train travel and helped northern England to become the engine room of the Industrial Revolution. Now, 185 years later, the station at the end of that line has become the focus of a legal dispute that threatens to derail plans by Chancellor George Osborne to build a 21st-century Northern Powerhouse.

The Observer

• Battle to save historic rail line that heralded the age of scienceAs a high court hearing looms, a leading historian joins the outcry over a plan to demolish parts of the world’s first intercity railway in Manchester

The Scotsman

• Borders Railway: Same old late trains and overcrowdingDELAYS and overcrowding have plagued the Borders Railway’s first week, deterring passengers from using the new service, campaigners have claimed.

The Telegraph

• Diesel car drivers face new restrictions in citiesGovernment plans suggest more cities will have to impose

Times Online

• Diesel plays part in 9% of UK deaths [subscription]“DIRTY DIESEL” vehicles could be forced out of Britain’s city centres, with owners facing pollution surcharges, extra parking charges and even a ban on entering towns at certain times, under government plans to improve air quality.
• Network Rail cash crisis hits key freight linePLANS to upgrade a key rail link carrying freight to one of Britain’s largest ports have been derailed by Network Rail’s funding crisis.
• Rail strikes are good for commuters and country [subscription]They’re a source of endless frustration and fury for anyone trying to make their way to work, yet strikes on the public transport system may actually be good for us, research has found.
• Rail journeys double over 20 years [subscription]The number of passenger journeys taken by train has more than doubled since privatisation of the railways. A report published today says that 1.65 billion rail journeys were made last year, up from 801 million in the mid-1990s when services were put in the hands of private train operating companies. It is the highest number in a century.

City AM

• Minister slams Corbyn’s public railway promiseTHE GOVERNMENT is using new data out today on the rail industry to take issue with the newly-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Mail Online

• Diesel drivers face £12.50 fee to enter cities like London, Leeds and Birmingham The charges, expected to be introduced against motorists by 2020, are likely to affect diesel vehicles entering parts of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Derby, Nottingham and Southampton.
• AA reveal the bus lane 'rat traps' that cost British drivers millions The motoring organisation is demanding action by Westminster to outlaw the latest cash-raising scam by councils that have become ‘addicted to the lucrative income from these rat traps’.

This is Money

• Where there’s a wheel (or two), there’s a way: From tandems to tax relief and Segways, our guide to helping you get on your bike The number of cyclists in Britain is soaring. Ten million of us now go out on our bikes at least once a month. Toby Walne looks at how you can join the revolution – and save yourself money.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• A55 and coastal railway in Colwyn Bay are a 'killer wave" away from disaster without urgent funding, claims councillor Councillor Cheryl Carlisle accuses politicians of dragging their feet over funding
• Seven people hurt in separate road crashes in North Wales The emergency services have dealt with a number of crashes over the weekend

Northern Echo

• First shell engines arrive at Hitachi factory TRAIN parts have begun arriving at Hitachi's North-East factory ready for assembly.

Yorkshire Post

• Tony Lodge: Lessons of grand reopening of a Yorkshire railway station Ignore the doom mongers, there are grounds for real optimism on Britain’s railway network
• Departures from the norm: Yorkshire’s ten best rail stations As the National Railway Museum in York marks its 40th anniversary, Stephen McClarence goes behind the scenes of a new exhibition celebrating the architecture of stations.

Burnley Express

• Pavement cyclists are ‘accident waiting to happen’A resident fears someone will get hurt by cyclists who are riding on the pavements in Duke Bar.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Port of Felixstowe receives Rail Freight Group customer care awardThe Port of Felixstowe has won the Rail Freight Group’s 2015 Customer Care Award in recognition of its efforts to ensure minimum disruption.

Reading Evening Post

• Reading's car club to expand with cars in Caversham and West Reading Reading Borough Council and the Co-Wheels car club have successfully bid for £48,800 from the DfT

Other Regional Press

• Germs on a plane: The dirtiest things when travelling by air revealedThere’s no better way to test your body’s immune system than by subjecting it to air travel according to a new report.
• Transporter Bridge: Visitors get chance to try out new glass liftDozens got to experience a bird's eye view of Teesside from its upper walkway as part of the national heritage open day
• Campaigners push for new technology on the buses to help blind passengersPetition to be collected in St George's Square in Huddersfield

Rail Magazine

• Javelin operates Remembrance trainA Southeastern Class 395 will run a charity service on November 7
• GBRf’s Felixstowe operations get a boostGBRF boosts capacity at the port using extra train slots

Railway Gazette

• Railmark forms Transit Services business unitUSA: Railmark Holdings Inc has announced the formation of a Railmark Transit Services business...
• World rail infrastructure market September 2015Algeria: EMA has awarded a three-year contract to extend the Constantine tram line to a consortium...