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

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

BBC News

• Easter rail works to hit commutersMajor rail works over Easter will continue to cause disruption to some West Midlands commuters returning to work after the holidays.
• 1.2bn Cardiff region deal signedA £1.2bn Cardiff Capital Region deal is signed to improve public transport and bring economic growth over the next 20 years.
• VIDEO: Lord Adonis on northern transport plansLord Adonis, of the National Infrastructure Commission, explains the need for transport spending in the north of England.
• VIDEO: Tiny robot ants pull car with teamworkA team of tiny robot ants pull a car that is thousands of times their weight as part of an experiment at Stanford University.
• Scots rail users promised 'revolution'Rail passengers in many parts of Scotland are being promised a
• HS3 rail link 'too little, too late'Plans to upgrade road and rail links to boost the so-called Northern Powerhouse are
• Call to 'kick-start' HS3 rail linkThe HS3 rail link needs
• Google urges self-drive rules shake-upGoogle and other tech firms tell US lawmakers that individual states should be prevented from creating a patchwork of self-driving car laws.

Financial Times

• Eurostar profits hit by Paris attacksTrain operator falls behind on growth targets with flat passenger numbers
• HS2 advisers help set in train fast lineEconomic impact of England’s 225mph line is already being felt 10 years before a track has been laid

The Guardian

• Manchester wins again in northern transport lottery – at cost to othersOne clear winner emerges from Andrew Adonis’s report into improving northern transport infrastructure – and once again it is Manchester.
• Network Rail privatisation expected to be ruled out by reportTreasury-commissioned review likely to call for devolution of regional routes and some private investment, but not sell-off of network, after fares warningA government-commissioned report into financing Britain’s railways is expected to rule out privatisation of the network following warnings that a sell-off would lead to higher fares.The review of Network Rail by Nicola Shaw, the chief executive of the High Speed 1 line, is to be published alongside the budget on Wednesday and will encourage devolution of regional routes and some private investment.

The Herald

• Osborne to green light biggest rail investment since Victorian age with support for HS3 and Crossrail 2 GEORGE Osborne will tomorrow vow to make Britain “fit for the future” by giving the green light to the HS3 high speed rail project, which will cut journey times for Scots travelling across northern England, and Crossrail 2 in London.
• Mackay: TRANSPORT Minister Derek Mackay hailed a “revolution in rail” in Scotland as he announced plans to 200 new services from 2018.
• Forth Road Bridge closure could have been avoided, insists Labour MSPThe public can
• Capital road at centre of cycleway row 'worst for congestion'AN EDINBURGH route at the centre of controversial plans which would see parts of it turned into a segregated cycleway has been named as the most congested outside of London.

The Scotsman

• ScotRail announces major increase in daily trainsScotRail today announced the biggest increase in its services for 25 years with an extra 200 trains a day running from 2018.
• Rail worker with terminal cancer has train dedicated to himA RAIL worker with terminal cancer has spoken of his “overwhelming” gratitude as a train dedicated to him rolled into Waverley.

Times Online

• Heathrow ‘jumps gun’ and awards runway contracts [Subscription]Heathrow faced claims that it had “jumped the gun” over a third runway yesterday by awarding contracts worth millions in an attempt to kick-start the project.

City AM

• George Osborne is right to back Crossrail 2 – but London should pay for itCrossrail hasn’t even opened but already attention is turning to its £32bn successor. The second stage would relieve congestion on the Northern and Victoria lines, and connect Surrey and Hertfordshire with central London. The capital’s business leaders are already warning that any repeat of the wrangling that so delayed the first line would be disastrous. After all, the new Elizabeth Line was first proposed in the 1940s. Crossrail 2 has won the endorsement of George Osborne’s newly-formed National Infrastructure Commission. Last week its chair, Lord Adonis, cautioned that “the capital will grind to a halt unless significant further improvements are made”. Osborne today gave it the green light.
• Night Tube under threat from another strike as RMT fights to improve offer for engineering staff on Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern LinesJust when you thought it was safe to plan for the start of the 24-hour Tube, another strike looms large.
• End delays to London City Airport expansion and the whole UK will see the benefitsUK airports had their busiest ever summer last year, collectively handling 78m passengers, and the indicators are that 2015 as a whole was the busiest year on record. London City Airport certainly had a record-breaking year, with 18 per cent growth in passengers to 4.3m.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• HS3 high-speed rail link could be a 'game-changer' for Bradford BRING high-speed rail to Bradford - that's the rallying cry from the city's leaders to the Government today. Chancellor George Osborne will use his Budget to give the go-ahead for a high-speed rail link, dubbed HS3, between Leeds and Manchester.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Gwynedd company boss 'doctored bus fare reports as part of �500,000 fraud' Former Padarn Bus Ltd managing director David John Hulme, 55, of Glan Seiont, Caernarfon denies one charge of fraud and another of false accounting
• Delight as axed Conwy Valley bus service reinstated Llew Jones Coaches will take on the no 19 route after Arriva announced that they were ending the vital service from May 1

Liverpool Echo

• Liverpool John Lennon Airport in level playing plea over air passenger dutyAirport calls for UK to follow any cuts Scottish Parliament makes to APD flight tax

London Evening Standard

• London 'the world's most gridlocked city'London is the worst city in the world for traffic jams, a survey has found.
• Regent's Park cycle superhighway could be axed after huge opposition from residentsMore than 3,000 people have signed an online petition calling for TfL to abandon the "catastrophically ill-planned scheme"
• Boris Johnson unveils �20m road safety fund for LondonBoris Johnson today announced a �20 million road safety technology fund to help tackle serious casualties on London's streets.
• Eurostar travel could be affected over Easter after staff vote to strikeEaster holidaymakers could face travel misery after Eurostar managers voted overwhelmingly to strike following a row over lone working.
• Tube sex attack conviction rate plummetsThe number of people convicted for sex offences on the Tube has plunged in the past year, despite a campaign encouraging more victims to come forward.
• Night Tube start under threat yet again, days after summer launch was announcedAn industrial dispute could still wreck the summer launch of the Night Tube.
• Dutch-style cycle 'super hub' to help tackle London's bike theft epidemicAn estimated 70,000 bikes are stolen in London each year
• Pilot aborts landing due to badger on runwayA Flybe plane was forced to abort its landing after a badger wandered onto the runway.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• HS3 high-speed line for the North is branded a 'political gimmick' by criticsGeorge Osborne's plans for a new high-speed rail line in the North have come under fire as he prepares to deliver his Budget

Wales Online

• It will provide a £1.2bn boost to the Cardiff Capital Region, but what is a City Deal?Metro will be at the heart of the City Deal for the Cardiff Capital Region, alongside skills and innovation

Get West London

• True cost of noise insulation for third runway at Heathrow estimated at £1.8bnThe figure quoted by anti-expansion group HACAN is well over twice the £700m set aside by bosses at the airport

Plymouth Herald

• Devon fire safety firm wins £15m Heathrow airport contract A Devon fire safety company has won a £15 million maintenance contract with Heathrow airport.

Rail Technology Magazine

• HS2 launches two consultations for Phase IIa of High Speed 2 rail network HS2, the developer and promoter of the UK's new high-speed rail network, has launched two consultations on its environmental impact assessment (EIA) and equality impact assessment (EQIA) scope and methodology reports for the Phase IIa section of the …
• Enterprise Rail Technology Solutions Rezopia from Sonata Software offers the next-generation reservation, operations and distribution management system for rail providers.
• 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…
• Euston Passenger Information Displays Developed To Prevent Passenger Surge A solution developed in partnership with Worldline and Virgin Trains and brought to fruition by passenger information display (PID) specialist Infotec to help prevent passenger surge is generating considerable interest throughout the rail network.
• Night Tube will open in August, Aslef claimThe Night Tube will open in August, according to train drivers’ union Aslef, although Transport for London (TfL) denied that a date has been set. Aslef said in a statement today that the Tube will run all night on Fridays and Saturdays on the Victoria and Jubilee lines in August and then...
• HS2 defends itself against derailment claimsHS2 Ltd has defended itself following allegations that its trains could derail at top speed, saying it is mitigating potential safety risks. In research, commissioned by HS2 and seen by the Daily Telegraph, Professor Peter Woodward, Atkins Professor of High Speed Railways at Heriot Watt...
• Sussex trains slow to 5mph as latest landslip hitsAnother landslip has hit the rail network, this time in Sussex, forcing Southern rail services on the line between Eastbourne and Lewes to slow to 5mph. Network Rail staff are currently digging bore holes into the rail to look deeper at the embankment, and will then need to build a temporary...
• HS2 opens new consultations on environmental and equalities assessmentHS2 Ltd has opened two new consultations on its assessment of the environmental and equalities impact of the proposed railway line. The consultations are open until 13 May and seek the views of statutory and expert bodies on the scope, methodology and overall approach of HS2’s Environment...
• TBMs for Northern Line extension all set for testingThe two new 650-tonne tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will build the Northern Line extension under south London have finished being built. Transport for London (TfL) said the new machines, built by NFM Technologies in Le Creusot in central France, will start making their way underneath the...
• Tyne & Wear Metro to be publicly-run after passengers 'let down' by DB RegioCouncil leaders in the north east have stated that the seven-year Tyne & Wear Metro contract with DB Regio, which is due to end in March 2017, should not be extended. In a report to the North East Combined Authority (NECA) it was noted that both transport authority Nexus and the operator, DB...
• 'Vulnerable and unprepared' TfL duped into �900m Tube disasterA fatal mixture of poor commercial expertise, lack of IT procurement skills and ill-informed senior management led to the collapse of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) sub-surface upgrade programme (SSUP) contract with Bombardier, creating “nothing short of a disaster” for...
• CMA clears new TransPennine franchiseThe Competition Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the award of the TransPennine Express (TPE) franchise to FirstGroup. The department, which last week also laid out options for the future of rail franchising in the UK, opened an inquiry into the new TPE franchise in January. After examining...
• HS3 plans must be developed swiftly with benefits felt by 2022 - NIC Plans to develop the HS3 network should be complete by the end of 2017 with benefits being felt between Manchester and Leeds by 2022, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has recommended. Chaired by Lord Adonis, the commission has called for a two-part plan for the Trans-Pennine route to...

Railnews

• DB Regio set to lose Tyne & Wear Metro contract Nexus wants to renationalise the Tyne and Wear Metro operating contact for two years, as part of a 'long-term strategy to develop the system'. Nexus is seeking endorsement from Leaders of the North East Combined Authority to manage Metro operations directly for two years from April 2017, once the current contract with DB Regio has expired.
• Green light for HS3 and Crossrail 2 Tomorrow's budget will include funding for two major railway projects as well as highway upgrades, the Treasury said today. One is the start of investigatory work on building HS3, an east-west railway across the north of England, with the first section running under the Pennines to provide a faster railway between Leeds and Manchester. Ultimately, the travel time could come down to 30 minutes. The scheme is expected to include a combination of new build and upgrades of existing railways. The second rail development is formal recognition by the Government of the need for Crossrail 2, which wil...

Aviation Industry

• Amadeus and Virgin Australia sign long-term dealAmadeus and Virgin Australia have signed a new multi-year partnership.The new agreement provides Amadeus agents with continued access to Virgin Australia’s full range of fares, seats and schedules under the same conditions as that offered through all other channels.

Other News Sources

• People urged to submit questions about noise pollution to London Luton AirportPeople are being urged to submit questions to London Luton Airport about noise pollution.
• Osborne to back HS3 and Crossrail 2 projects in BudgetChancellor wants to 'kick-start' link that will slash journey times between Manchester-Leeds to 30 minutes
• Eurostar profits hit by Paris attacks and strong poundRail operator reports a �21m fall in profits