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

Friday, 11 March 2016

BBC News

• M4 relief road 'could cost £1.1bn'The planned M4 relief road could cost £1.1bn, new figures show, despite the first minister saying it would be much lower than that.
• Hospitals could follow airlines on safetyCan aviation teach hospitals a thing or two about safety?
• VIDEO: Stand on the left? Pardon?A standing-only trial on escalators at a London Underground station is to be extended after an initial test resulted in a 30% improved passenger flow.
• Forth Road Bridge fault 'unforeseeable'A report into the closure of the Forth Road Bridge concludes the fault which caused it could not have been foreseen.
• Sex offences 'will rise' on Night TubeThe Night Tube will lead to a rise in sex offences and rowdy behaviour, according to an internal risk assessment by Transport for London.
• Go-ahead for Crossrail 2 in LondonCrossrail 2 is given the go-ahead by George Osborne's National Infrastructure Commission.

Financial Times

• Adonis urges Crossrail 2 to be a priorityLondon will ‘grind to a halt’ without transport improvements

The Guardian

• Londoners should pay at least half of Crossrail 2 bill, Lord Adonis saysInfrastructure agency chief says funding for north-south rail link should be freed immediately so £33bn line can open in 2033Ministers should prioritise developingthe £33bn Crossrail 2 line in London in order to prevent the capital “grinding to a halt”, according to the independent body advising the government on Britain’s long-term infrastructure projects. Funding should be released immediately to enable work on the rail link – which would run from north to south across the capital – to start as soon as the first Crossrail route is completed in 2019, the National Infrastructure Commission (NI...
• London to the letter: meet Edward Johnston, the font of all tube styleThe creator of the hugely influential London Underground typeface – which celebrates its centenary this year – was a modest typographic puristAs ubiquitous as the black cab and the double-decker bus, so omnipresent in the city it is practically invisible, the London Underground typeface celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2016. To mark the centenary, a Sussex village, where this most metropolitan of lettering was dreamed up, is putting on a show.Edward Johnston, who created the typeface in 1916, moved to Ditchling, at the foot of the rolling South Downs, in 1912 at the behest of Eric Gill, his...
• Labour would borrow billions of pounds to fund public investment projectsShadow chancellor John McDonnell promises ‘iron discipline’ in spending, but would push billions towards housing, railways or high-speed broadband Labour would borrow billions of pounds to fund public investment projects, while exerting an “iron discipline” over day-to-day spending, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said, as he seeks to win back the party’s reputation for economic competence.In an interview with the Guardian, he described shoring up Labour’s fiscal credibility as “the struggle of a generation”, but insisted that exerting tight control over spending did not signal the abando...

The Herald

• Child road deaths reduction target met six years earlyA target to cut child deaths on Scotland's roads by 50% by 2020 has been achieved six years early, a new report has revealed.
• Shoreham airshow organisers 'did not know intended routine of jet crash pilot'The organisers of the Shoreham Airshow, where 11 people were killed, did not know the intended routine of the pilot whose Hawker Hunter jet crashed on to a road, accident investigators have said.

The Scotsman

• Forth Road Bridge: Inquiry into closure ‘doesn’t go far enough’An inquiry into the closure of the Forth Road Bridge over Christmas has been accused of “not going far enough” as it fails to highlight a loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds to businesses, opposition MSPs have claimed.

The Telegraph

• Commuters could be banned from walking up escalatorsHolborn first tube station to introduce pilot on walking up escalators
• We Londoners will explode with rage if we have to stand on the escalatorAbandoning a convention that has served the Underground well for more than 50 years is too a step too far
• Traffic lights could be switched off to reduce congestionAndrew Jones, the road safety minister, says he will consider plans to switch off traffic lights to ensure that traffic 'flows more freely'

Mail Online

• 2,300 Transport for London workers are paid 'off the books' allowing them to cut their tax bill The number of people at getting their salary handed to them before tax at TfL, which runs the Tube, pictured, has almost trebled in the past four years to 2,300 - up from 970 in 2011.
• George Osborne's warning of a 2p hike in fuel price The Chancellor told a private meeting of Conservative MPs that he could not be expected to extend the five-year freeze on fuel duty if oil prices remain below $50 a barrel.

Birmingham Mail

• Bus, train and tram crimes fall as live CCTV feed scares off yobs and thievesCrime Commissioner David Jamieson praises the work of Safer Travel team after offences drop

Daily Post (North Wales)

• North Wales rail electrification could fail if passenger numbers don't increase The Welsh Government are about to submit a business case to upgrade 105 miles of track from Holyhead to Crewe

Manchester Evening News

• Manchester Airport passengers slam 'horrendous' passport control queuesFrustrated travellers lined up in their hundreds as UK Border Force staff struggled to process arrivals at terminal 2
• Even Virgin Trains are taking a sly dig at Louis van Gaal after Manchester United's Anfield defeat They took to their ticket booking system to make sure he could get back to Manchester

Northern Echo

• VIDEO: Crowds flock as Flying Scotsman steams through region on way to North York Moors Railway CROWDS clambered and strained for a vantage point, its progress was slowed when onlookers got a little too close, but on�Thursday night�rail enthusiasts and the just plain curious got to see the Flying Scotsman steam through the region.

Wales Online

• Cardiff wants to bring back Boris bikes to Wales' capital The city wants to see 500 bikes stationed around the city as it tries to boost public transport
• Carwyn Jones thought the M4 relief road would cost less than �1bn but a new report says otherwise A Welsh Government report puts the cost at £1.1bn - and that's not even taking account of VAT and inflation

Yorkshire Post

• MPs urge crackdown on laser pens after attacks on aircraft in LeedsMPs have urged the Government to do more to crack down on “dangerous” laser pen attacks against aircraft, following a spate of attacks around Leeds-Bradford Airport.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Delays for rail passengers after overrunning engineering worksOverrunning engineering works are causing delays for rail passengers attempting to reach London from Suffolk and Essex this morning.

Other Regional Press

• Now it is time to use your bus or lose it says Lancashire County CouncilA use it or lose it warning has been issued to county bus users following an eleventh hour rescue plan for more than half of 113 under threat routes.
• Pothole pains: More than 250,000 potholes repaired by Kirklees Council last year — but there's still a backlog£12billion backlog to repair the nation's crumbling roads

Rail Technology Magazine

• Thought-Provoking Ideas on the Challenges Facing Passenger Transport Service Providers in Europe 'Transport Management and Control In A World of Change And Complexity' brings together insight and opinion from politicians, senior decision-makers and industry commentators. It looks at the challenges of growing demand, rising congestion and increas…
• Free wi-fi now available on more than half of South West TrainsFree wi-fi on South West Trains has received a major extension, meaning it is provided on more than half of their services. Wi-fi has been installed through a collaboration with Nomad Digital on South West’s class 450 trains, which run on services to destinations including Reading...

Railnews

• London Underground discards 'stand on the right' rule London Underground is discarding decades of tradition in a new trial at a busy station where passengers will no longer be asked to 'stand on the right' when using two escalators. Instead, they will be invited to stand on both sides on the Central line escalators at Holborn. Previous tests last November and December have suggested that capacity is increased by up to 30 per cent if everyone is stationary and allows the machinery to do the work.

Aviation Industry

• Ryanair enters corporate charter marketIrish low-cost carrier Ryanair has launched a corporate charter service in response to strong demand from customers seeking to privately hire its aircraft. read more
• Flybe agrees new franchise dealRegional carrier will use Blue Islands to operate Channel Islands’ flights
• Heathrow boosted by long-haul traffic growthDouble-digit increases for flights to Mexico and China

Other News Sources

• A digital race towards innovationWe're seeing more and more companies competing for the government led 'Innovate UK' and future railway programme to support digital tech that improves customer experience.
• Autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid safely manoeuvres snowy test trackThis week’s video comes from Michigan where Ford has been demonstrating a Fusion Hybrid’s ability to drive autonomously in snowy conditions. According to Ford, the vehicle is able to safely manoeuvre in wintery conditions through a combination of technologies including four LiDAR scanners that were used in better weather conditions to build a 3D map […]
• City Council sets aspiration for zero carbon Cambridge by 2050 Cambridge city councillors are to consider agreeing an aspiration to reduce carbon emissions in Cambridge to zero by 2050, which would contribute to achieving the ambitious international targets agreed by governments at the COP 21 summit* in Paris in December 2015.
• Shoreham Airshow disaster report: Organisers not aware of pilot's display plans A risk assessment for the 2015�Shoreham�Air Show, where 11 people were killed, did not