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

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

BBC News

• Repairs on flood-hit rail line continueRail engineers are continuing repair work on the Conwy Valley line after flooding caused damage at over 100 locations.
• Arriva train drivers hold second strikeArriva Trains Wales drivers are holding a 24-hour strike on 1 February, the Aslef union announces.
• VIDEO: City centre bus lane to be shortenedA controversial bus lane in front of Belfast's Europa Hotel is being shortened.
• 'Bright sunlight' causes rail delaysRail passengers are angered after being told
• Oil slide won't halt electric futureCarmakers plan for battery-powered domination
• Airbus delivers record number of planesAirbus delivered a record number of planes in 2015 but failed to dethrone Boeing as the world's biggest aircraft manufacturer.
• New masts in paddle steamer refitOne of Scotland's most famous ships is to be re-masted with wood from a forest in Perthshire.
• Tunnel work to hit Queen Street trainsThe main tunnel serving Scotland's third busiest rail station is to close for 20 weeks, causing major disruption.

Department for Transport

• 40 cycling schemes underway on England’s biggest roadsWork has started on more than 40 schemes as part of a £100 million package to make it easier for cyclists to cross motorway junctions and use major A roads.
• Roll-out of smart ticketing will improve bus, rail and tram journeys for millionsTransport Minister Andrew Jones welcomes progress as biggest 5 UK bus operators announce contactless travel for all buses by 2022.

Financial Times

• Ryanair and easyJet eye work with rivalsBudget airlines consider providing feeder traffic for flag carriers’ long-haul flights
• Airbus pledges to boost output of new A350Toilet supplier blamed for missed delivery target last year

The Guardian

• Google reports self-driving car mistakes: 272 failures and 13 near missesCalifornia regulators require self-driving car firms to report when humans had to take over from robot drivers for safety, though Google is giving only select dataGoogle’s self-driving cars might not yet have caused a single accident on public roads, but it’s not for want of trying.Between September 2014 and November 2015, Google’s autonomous vehicles in California experienced 272 failures and would have crashed at least 13 times if their human test drivers had not intervened, according to a document filed by Google with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Continue reading...

The Herald

• Rail commuters face travel chaos as Glasgow Queen Street station to partially close for five monthsCommuters face five months of travel chaos after Scotrail announced plans to close the tunnel at a busy city centre station for 20 weeks.
• Operators: every bus in Britain to have contactless payment technology by 2022FIVE of Britain's biggest bus operators, including Stagecoach and First, have unveiled plans to introduce contactless payment technology on every bus in Britain by 2022.

The Huffington Post

• Self-Driving Cars: Artificial Intelligence Holds The Key To An Autonomous World Self-driving cars are dangerously heading to that ill-fated part of folk lore that virtual reality has been trying to break out of for the last 15 years. Google might have unveiled a car that smiles at you and Apple may well have decided to hire 1000 of the automotive industry's brightest minds but none of these things have resulted in a car that will take you from A to B without you touching a thing. That didn't stop autonomous vehicles from becoming one of the hot topics at last week's CES 2016 conference, where the technology and automotive industries came together to show off its ...
• Southeastern Delays Blamed On 'Strong Sunshine', But Met Office Says It Was More Likely The AngleSoutheastern Trains tried a new excuse for delays to commuter services on Tuesday morning - blaming late departures on the strength of light from the sun. However, the cause was more likely to have been the angle at which the sun rose, rather than its strength. The Met Office told HuffPost UK that with Tuesday's clear skies accentuating sunlight, the perception on the ground would have been of an unusually high strength. As the sun rises in the east, it's more likely that its particular angle on Tuesday caused the glare to hit vital safety screens, which Southeastern blamed for the delays. ...

The Telegraph

• Rail commuters suffer major delays as weather 'too sunny' for Southeastern train driversThe 'low winter sun' is causing havoc for commuters on Southeastern lines

Mail Online

• Southeastern train operator blames too much SUNSHINE for rush hour rail delays Services at Lewisham, south-east London were disrupted because of the angle of the sun, train operator Southeastern said.

Birmingham Post

• Birmingham Airport enjoys record-breaking year Airport handles more than ten million passengers during a calender year for the first time in its 75-year history

Bolton News

• Bolton bus passengers to get 'Oyster Card' contactless tickets BUS passengers in Bolton will be able to use contactless ticketing similar to London's Oyster Card by 2022 — and hopefully sooner.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Ludicrous driving incident caught on camera as businessman calls for end to mini roundabouts 'craze' A BUSINESS owner has called for an end to the

Daily Post (North Wales)

• How much will an Airbus plane cost in 2016? Airbus reveals record deliveries in 2015 and unveils its new price list for the current year
• Fresh train strike set to cause chaos for North Wales rail passengers Drivers working for Arriva Trains Wales will walkout for 24 hours on February 1

London Evening Standard

• Tube delays: Commuters hit by major delays due to signal failure at King's CrossCommuters are facing significant disruption this morning after a signal failure at King's Cross.

Manchester Evening News

• Victoria Station to be closed every Sunday until mid-April for Ordsall Chord engineering works Work on Ordsall Chord will mean delays, bus replacements and diversions

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Tyne and Wear Metro delays continue after Network Rail power supply problem Disruption continues as staff try to determine source of the problem which has stopped service between Pelaw and Brockley Whins

Nottingham Evening Post

• Nottingham Post published More take off from East Midlands AirportEast Midlands Airport saw passenger numbers take off in December. A total of 202,757 passengers travelled from and to East Midlands Airport last month, compared to 188,191 in December 2015. Tenerife, Dublin, Lanzarote, Alicante and Malaga were the top five destinations of choice over the festive period, with Mediterranean destinations proving the clear favourites.

Sheffield Telegraph

• Meadowhall success is proof HS2 station should be in Sheffield city centreA new report showing the huge economic success of Meadowhall is proof that Sheffield’s HS2 station should be in the city centre, according to key players in the regeneration.

Wales Online

• Arriva Trains Wales drivers announce second 24-hour strike in working conditions row Drivers will walk out on February 1, the Aslef union has announced

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• �268,000 of Wolverhampton parking fines not settledAlmost �270,000 was owed in parking fines to Wolverhampton City Council at the end of last year.

Blackpool Gazette

• Work begins on Broughton Bypass 40 years after its first proposalCouncil leader Jennifer Mein squelched through ankle deep mud at the site of the £24.3m Broughton Bypass and confessed: “This day has been a long time coming.”

Bucks Free Press

• Residents call for relief road to prevent 500 HGVs passing through village if rail depot is relocated Concerned Iver residents came together in a peaceful protest against an increase of 500 HGVs that the village could face if the Heathrow Express depot (HEx) relocates to Langley.
• MP 'concerned' that constituents are unhappy with Chiltern Railways service The MP for Beaconsfield, Dominic Grieve, has said that he is ‘concerned’ to hear his constituents are unhappy with the service provided by Chiltern Railways since the introduction of a new timetable in October.

Carlisle News & Star

• New effort to upgrade main A595 road through Cumbria A fresh bid is being made to upgrade the A595 road – one of Cumbria’s major routes.

Doncaster Free Press

• Death of Doncaster rail worker leads to �200,000 fineA construction firm has been fined £200,000 after health and safety failings led to the death of a rail worker from Doncaster.
• Doncaster trio jailed for part in gang that stole over �1m of railway cableThree Doncaster men from the same family have now been jailed for a total of three and a half years for their part in a gang responsible for over 35 railway cable thefts worth more than �1million.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Action needed over Stansted links or region will be “severely handicapped”, Essex MP says.East Anglia will be “severely handicapped” if rail improvements to Stansted airport are not completed soon, an Essex MP has said.

Get West London

• Heathrow Airport: 'Aircraft noise could be hampering children's education'Aircraft noise could be impairing the education of tens of thousands of pupils at schools around Heathrow , a new report claims.

Western Daily Press

• Alarming number of people, who live near airports, are exposed to dangerous levels of noise More than one million people in the UK are exposed to dangerous levels of aircraft noise, an environmental group has claimed.

Other Regional Press

• World’s first jet airliner “flies” again with Bedford firmThe sole surviving de Havilland Comet jet airliner “flew” for the first time in 60 years thanks to a Bedford firm.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Liverpool John Lennon Airport posts 8% boost in annual passenger numbersLiverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) enjoyed its busiest year since 2012, figures out today show. Last year more than 4.3m passengers chose to use the airport, an 8% increase compared with 2014, producing the first sustained period of growth since 2011. LJLA enjoyed a busy Christmas and New Year period to round off a strong 2015, with December passenger throughput almost 15% higher than the same period last year, and the 11th consecutive month of growth with 310,000 passengers passing through the airport. Last year was a significant year for LJLA as the number of airlines operating there mo...
• Rolls Royce opens logistics centreRolls Royce Motor Cars has formally opened its purpose-built 323,000 sq ft logistics and technology at Bognor Regis. It consolidates three operations – an inbound warehouse for production parts; a distribution centre, including an inbound body store and finished car store and a workshop for car preparation. Some 200 people are employed at the site, with a number of new roles created in addition to those transferred from existing logistics functions. The company has also been continuing with building and expansion work at the Goodwood factory site, where it is investing in a new single-...

Rail Magazine

• Merseytravel shortlists five bidders for new fleetFive companies have been shortlisted to build new trains for the Merseyrail concession.
• Cooklin’s career takes new routeSusan Cooklin has switched roles to become Network Rail’s new route services director.
• High speed handbacksNew advanced engineering techniques enabled trains to run at higher speeds following Network Rail’s £150 million Christmas engineering programme.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Texat decor engineering - First Class Interiors Texat decor engineering AG is a Swiss engineering and trading company established in 1990 in Zurich. As a successful and expert partner for innovative solutions, as well as new developments in the field of railway interiors and related industries, ou…

Railnews

• Aslef calls another Welsh strike A further strike has been called of Arriva Trains Wales drivers, after peace talks broke down. Aslef said its members would walk out on 1 February, in the continuing dispute over conditions. There has already been one strike this year, on 4 January, and there had been hopes that further negotiations would result in agreement.
• West Coast Railways prosecution delayed The prosecution of West Coast Railways and one of its drivers in connection with a signal passed at danger near Swindon last March has been delayed by nine days.
• Bidders for �400m Merseyrail contract are shortlisted The shortlisted bidders for a �400m contract to provide a new fleet of trains for an upgraded and expanded Merseyside network have been announced. Merseytravel has concluded that new trains by the early 2020s are the best option to meet demand, which is growing by 2.5 per cent annually. The improvements could boost the region by �70 million a year, and create 1,000 jobs.

Aviation Industry

• Ticketed passengers can now swap seats with new appTicketed air travelers can swap seats in exchange for electronic payment with a recently launched app, Seateroo, which is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. read more
• Major carriers to launch European Airline AssociationEasyjet, Lufthansa and Ryanair among airlines spearheading new association
• Etihad passenger numbers jump 17% in 2015Gulf airline carried 75% of all traffic to and from Abu Dhabi airport
• Lufthansa posts record passenger numbers for 2015German airline carried 107.7 million passengers in 2015
• ANA plans 8.8% stake in Vietnam AirlinesJapanese carrier signs memorandum of understanding

Other News Sources

• FTA welcomes drivers’ hours relaxation but says bridge must reopenThe Freight Transport Association (FTA) says the European Commission’s extension to the drivers’ hours relaxation in Scotland will help transport ...