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

Saturday, 19 September 2015

BBC News

• VIDEO: Timelapse: Rebuilding New StreetThe £750m transformation of Birmingham's New Street station and Grand Central shopping centre has been captured in timelapse photography.
• Planes 'were 200m from mid-air crash'Two light aircraft came within 200m of colliding when one pilot averted the danger after a last-minute sighting, a report says.
• Bypass work due to be completedPart of the Dumfries bypass will be closed this weekend as an upgrade of the road is expected to be completed.
• Warning of likely disruption on A9Transport Scotland is warning motorists of likely disruption on a stretch of the A9 where work has started on upgrading the road to dual carriageway.
• Fire closes Dublin's Port TunnelThe Port Tunnel in Dublin has re-opened following a truck fire.

Financial Times

• Beijing joins ranks of cab-hailing appsChinese capital launches state-backed mobile app to rival Uber and Didi Kuaidi
• Alitalia chief executive Cassano quitsItalian flag carrier faces fresh headwinds only a year after rescue by UAE’s Etihad

The Guardian

• Birmingham New Street station unveils long-awaited makeoverDark concourse of much-maligned 60s concrete monolith is replaced with giant, glass-roofed atrium, replete with new shopping centre
• Routemaster buses in London to be refitted with windows that openBoris Johnson chided by assembly members for ordering fleet of new vehicles with design that left passengers suffering temperatures of 30C and above
• Wow: Iceland's latest low-cost airline offers a £99 bridge to the USEntrepreneur Skúli Mogensen is selling bargain flights from Europe routed via Reykjavik. But is the deal as good as it seems?Iceland has not always been kind to people wishing to fly, or even those searching for the best online deal. Savers attracted by high interest rates had billions in their Icesave bank accounts temporarily frozen in 2008. Two years later, ash spewed by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano grounded planes across Europe for a week.So an Icelandic tech tycoon promising to fly bargain-hunting Brits to the US for £99 one-way on his upstart airline might ring a few a...
• Way to go: the woman who invented Britain’s road signsIn the 1960s, Margaret Calvert designed an entirely new signage system for the UK’s roads. Fifty years on, she explains how she did ‘possibly the biggest graphic design job ever’ – and why she’s still haunted by itMargaret Calvert finds driving down the motorway an infuriating experience. It’s not the tailgaters or the traffic that exasperates the 79-year-old designer, but the signs. “It’s been a nightmare all my life,” she laughs, only half-joking. “I am always plagued by the sloppiness of something not being done well – the spacing being wrong, for instance.”More than half a century ago, Cal...

The Herald

• ScotRail: extra carriages found for EXTRA carriages will be added to the vast majority of Borders Railway services this weekend after complaints of that some passengers had been left to stand for the hour-long journey between Edinburgh and Tweedbank.

The Telegraph

• Lost Property: Cabbies receive compulosry rewards based on the value of the itemLost property rewards given to black cab drivers are calculated on a sliding scale, with low value items charged at 15 per cent of their value and the most expensive goods, charged at one per cent.
• Drunk airline passengers could be 'blacklisted'Ministers are drawing up plans which could see disruptive drunk airline passengers put on a flying blacklist

City AM

• Volkswagen told to recall nearly 500,000 vehiclesVolkswagen has been ordered to recall nearly half a million cars in the US by the Obama administration, which claims the German car group used software that was purposely designed to dodge environmental standards for reducing smog. The US government's Environmental Protection Agency issued the company a notice of violation this afternoon, accusing Volkswagen of having installing a "defeat device" into its four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi vehicles between 2009 and 2015, according to the New York Times. The device is programmed to detect when the car is undergoing emissi...

The Mirror

• Passengers who get drunk at airports face being STOPPED from boarding flights in bid to tackle air rage Tighter limits could be placed on how many drinks are served by cabin crews, and drunk passengers face being put on a blacklist that bans them from flying with other airlines

Belfast Telegraph

• A man who locked himself in a toilet of a high-speed train heading for Paris has been arrested.Police in the Netherlands said the arrest happened at Rotterdam Central station without incident.

Birmingham Mail

• New Street wows VIPs who call £750m station 'nothing short of stunning'Politicians and dignitaries tour station which is set to open to the public for first time on Sunday

Derby Telegraph

• Derby Telegraph published Sportive will see cyclists take on challenging Derbyshire eventDRIVERS are being warned to be on the lookout for cyclists this weekend as hundreds take to the roads of the county for the third Cycle Derby Sportive.More than 1,000 cyclists will be leaving Markeaton Park from 8am tomorrow and will be heading north into the hills of Derbyshire on three different routes. While there are no full road closures, Markeaton Lane will be shut temporarily from the garden centre, halfway along the lane, up to the Kedleston Road junction.Cyclists will take part in...

London Evening Standard

• New Routemaster buses to be fitted with windows that openBoris Johnson's New Routemaster buses are to be fitted with windows that open after passengers complained about stifling heat.

Yorkshire Post

• British Cycling reject Tour de Yorkshire expansionWelcome to Yorkshire’s request to expand the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire from three days to four has been rejected by the sport’s governing body.

Blackpool Gazette

• Rail service changes are a ‘loss’ to resortRail campaigners have called temporary plans to reduce direct services between Blackpool and Liverpool a ’loss’ to the resort.

Other Regional Press

• EXCLUSIVE: DVLA returns untaxed cars across Northampton after wrongly towing them awayThe DVLA has been forced to return a number of cars across Northampton that it falsely believed were illegal.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Port of Felixstowe Goes GreenThe Port of Felixstowe is creating an environmental corridor as part of the Go Green campaign launched by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) and a number of other global port operators. The initiative at Felixstowe will include the refurbishment of part of a system of dykes within the port. The work will include the improvement of habitats for wildlife as well as enhancing green areas within a busy industrial complex by planting a mixture of trees, grasses and wild flowers. Clemence Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Felixstowe and Managing Director of HPH Europe division, said: &ldqu...
• Partnership agreement signed with GLS and DB Schenker Logistics DB Schenker Logistics and the GLS Group have signed a strategic partnership agreement to collaborate in Europe.  The companies will offer each other assistance in terms of transport services, with DB Schenker providing parcel delivery throughout the continent and GLS expanding its existing supply of freight services.  GLS will be delivering parcels for DB Schenker, while the latter organisation will be handling part-load pallet transport on behalf of GLS.  Chief executive officer of the GLS Group Rico Back said parcel services are increasingly popular among freight customers, so the new deal w...
• Transport Secretary hails Birmingham New Street station transformationBirmingham New Street station has been overhauled to dramatically improve passenger capacity and experience. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin visited Birmingham New Street station today (18 September 2015) to mark the completion of a 5 year programme to transform facilities for passengers. The new station has been overhauled to dramatically improve station capacity and the passenger experience, with a spectacular new atrium over the concourse, which is now 5 times the size of London Euston. The station development will also act as a catalyst for regeneration in Birmingham city centre, ...

Rail Technology Magazine

• Modern Wheel Detection and Axle Counting Growing conurbations, increasing car park prices and not least rising fuel prices are pushing trams and underground railways increasingly to the forefront of urban and suburban rail transportation infrastructures.
• CBTC Connectivity Solutions The overall performance of a rail rapid transit system depends largely on the performance of the automatic train control (ATC) system employed. A communication-based train control (CBTC) system is devised by adding modern communication technologies t…
• ENSCO Rail Takes Rail Technologies to Railway Interchange 2015 ENSCO Rail will be participating at Railway Interchange 2015. The event takes place 4 -7 October, in Minneapolis.

Railnews

• DfT demands 'Norwich in 90' from next Anglia operator The Department for Transport has revealed that it expects the next operator of the East Anglia franchise -- presently known as Greater Anglia -- to run its fastest trains between London and Norwich in 90 minutes. The DfT has published the formal Invitation to Tender, and conceded that its plans for the region's railways are 'ambitious'. They also include 'challenging' customer service targets. In a related development, the DfT has extended the East Midlands Trains franchise by more than two years.

Aviation Industry

• Reports: Estonia may launch new carrier if EU rules aid was illegalEstonia is ready to create a new airline should the European Union rule its existing flag carrier, Estonian Air, illegally received €40.7 million ($46 million) of state aid in 2013. read more
• Flybe takes delivery of first leased ATR 72-600 UK regional Flybe introduced its first ATR 72-600 series aircraft into its fleet, on lease from Avation PLC. read more
• Aeroflot to increase capital investment in OrenairRussia’s Aeroflot will initiate and fully subscribe to a capital increase in Orenair subsidiary as part of the group’s multi-brand renewal strategy. read more
• American Airlines’ flights affected by computer glitchHundreds of services grounded at Miami, Dallas and Chicago
• Airlines must pay compensation for ‘tech’ delaysCourt ruling says carriers cannot claim “extraordinary circumstances” for technical problems

Green Miscellany

• Airbags for bicycles and motorbikesVulnerable road users on two wheels now have a choice of cutting-edge airbags for bicycles and motorbikes to help prevent serious injury. The post Airbags for bicycles and motorbikes appeared first on ETA.

Other News Sources

• Surrey's slowest road hits 'gridlock' after Weybridge roadworks Emergency roadworks and several sets of temporary traffic lights dotted around the town meant the A317 came to a standstill
• Clarity wins government travel contractTMC will use online tools to drive savings for Westminster departments
• Rail service to be rated by ‘mystery shoppers’Government will launch independent customer service tests for new franchise