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

Monday, 09 November 2015

BBC News

• What happened to passenger hovercraft?It's 60 years since the British inventor Christopher Cockerell demonstrated the principles of the hovercraft using a cat food tin and a vacuum cleaner. Great things were promised for this mode of transport, but it never really caught on. Why?
• What happened to passenger hovercraft?It's 60 years since the British inventor Christopher Cockerell demonstrated the principles of the hovercraft using a cat food tin and a vacuum cleaner. Great things were promised for this mode of transport, but it never really caught on. Why?
• Spending review: George Osborne 'secures deals' on 30% cutsThe transport, local government and environment departments, plus the Treasury, have all agreed deals ahead of the spending review on 25 November.
• HS2 route tree voted nation's favouriteThe Suffragette Oak in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, is voted Scotland's Tree of the Year.
• French PM: 'No Renault-Nissan merger'French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says the government does not want a merger between carmakers Renault and Nissan.
• Lufthansa to cancel 929 flightsGerman airline Lufthansa says 113,000 passengers will be hit by flight cancellations on Monday amid a union walkout.
• No 'drama' for Airbus on A380 salesAirbus admits that new orders at the Dubai Airshow for its slow-selling A380 are unlikely, but says new sales this year are possible.
• Get on with third runway, CBI boss saysThe government should take

Financial Times

• Delayed Night Tube costs �1.5m a monthTfL admits hiring 500 extra staff in September for service
• Airbus expects crucial order this yearA380 progress vital to keep production running beyond 2020
• BA chief Keith Williams to retireLow-cost carrier executive Alex Cruz to take over next year

The Guardian

• Lufthansa cancels nearly 1,000 flights as cabin crew strikeMore than 110,000 passengers likely to be affected by industrial action at Germany’s biggest airline Germany’s biggest airline Lufthansa faces more aviation chaos Monday, cancelling hundreds of domestic and European flights as cabin crew said they would resume a strike in a battle over cost cuts.The stoppage – part of rolling industrial action the union threatened to continue until Friday – was due to hit Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich airports on Monday, the UFO flight attendants’ union said. Continue reading...
• Severn tolls seen as 'cash cow' by Westminster, says Welsh leaderUK government not prepared to share toll revenue after bridges revert to public ownership in 2018, says Carwyn Jones
• Four departments agree to meet George Osborne's cuts targetTreasury, environment, transport and communities departments cede to chancellor’s austerity demands, but home and foreign ministries dig in

The Telegraph

• 'Ghost stations' plan on London Tube faces legal challengeEntrepreneur who claims he was the first to spot the potential of disused London Underground stations says he has been frozen out of bidding contest

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Growing number of Yorkshire commuters spend more than three hours travelling to and from work THE number of commuters across Yorkshire and the Humber spending more than three hours travelling to and from work has increased by 98 per cent over the past 10 years, according to TUC analysis published today.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Wrexham to Chester £40 million rail upgrade delays 'unacceptable' Network Rail under fire as there is no end in sight for scheme which was due to be completed this month

Lincolnshire Echo

• Lincoln trains are overcrowded but there are NO more services allocated in new rail franchise The target of their wrath is currently a morning commuter train from Newark Northgate to Lincoln Central, where it is reported that on October 12, 169 passengers were counted getting off a single-carriage train that had 73 seats.

London Evening Standard

• Opponents of a "mini-Holland" cycling scheme in north-east London have been told by a High Court judge there is "no merit whatsoever" in their criticisms.The £27 million project aims to improve safety and the environment in the borough of Waltham Forest, including Walthamstow village, by encouraging more walking and cycling and reducing the volume of traffic in residential areas.

Yorkshire Post

• Use rising rail profits to invest in railways call Campaigners are calling for a massive projected windfall in train company payments to the Government to be invested in rail improvements as new TUC figures show the number of people in Yorkshire commuting for more than three hours a day has doubled over the last decade.

Other Regional Press

• 'Ugly' Burton railway station needs a spruce-up, say councillors CALLS for improvements to Burton Railway Station have been backed by council chiefs after the town's MP Andrew Griffiths dubbed it the 'ugliest' in the UK.
• Criticism for Slough’s Heathrow rail link as British Airways warns Govt of “boosterism”As the Slough Council backed Western Rail Link to Heathrow reaches a critical phase, British Airways has criticised the scheme for being “developed in isolation” and warned the Government about “boosterism”.
• Jaguar Land Rover report 40 per cent UK sales increaseWhitley-based car manufacturer says the results represent its best ever October
• Cubbington Pear Tree voted as Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year 2015 The ancient tree, which is under threat from HS2 rail line, voted as winner in annual contest

Airportwatch

• Delay fears for new Cambridge and Oxford railway link - spelling disaster for transport and housing An "essential" upgrade to Cambridge's creaking transport network has been plunged into doubt.
• CBI urges Cameron to show leadership over Heathrow runwayDavid Cameron must exercise “strong leadership” and have a third runway at Heathrow airport built, the president of Britain’s biggest lobby group will say on Monday.

Bus and Coach.com

• Predictable reactions to quality contract decision; all eyes on Buses BillThe first proposal to introduce a quality contract scheme, 15 years after the legislation was first published, has been rejected by a special board chaired by traffic commissioner for the north east of England Kevin Rooney.
• Record Scania order as City Circle to take 20 i6 coaches
• McGill’s engineers receive industry accreditation at Scottish conference
• Commitment to Total Transport and northern councils event
• Call for Oxfordshire to relent on proposed bus cuts
• Buses minister to attend UK Bus Awards
• Scania bets the house on gas
• Volvo wedded to an electric future
• BYD meets challenge on electric deckers
• Green agenda dominates at Busworld Kortrijk

Other News Sources

• ‘Terrible’ Stagecoach bus service in Cambridge only on time for 60 per cent of journeys last month A Cambridge resident furious with the state of the City's bus service has logged and entire month's with of chaos.
• If Cameron really wants expansion at Heathrow, can he fend off a by-election in Richmond Park?The Sunday Telegraph reports that “David Cameron has decided it would be politically safe to back a third runway at Heathrow, despite previously promising to block the expansion of Britain’s busiest airport,” and that “the Government is preparing to announce the next phase for airport expansion within weeks”.