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

Tuesday, 23 August 2016

BBC News

• Edinburgh's transport leader Lesley Hinds to stand downEdinburgh's transport leader Lesley Hinds is to stand down at next year's local elections.
• GHA Coaches: 200 buses and coaches to be sold at auctionTwo hundred buses and coaches belonging to a Wrexham company which collapsed last month are to be sold off at auction.
• Swansea canal restoration: Engineer 'sheds new light'Volunteers working to restore the historical Swansea canal enlist the help of an engineer tasked with filling it in back in the 1970s.
• Giant ship begins new North Sea oil and gas eraOne of the world's biggest ships begins a new era for the North Sea oil and gas industry by removing a platform for scrappage.
• First weekend of Night Tube has 100k usersMore than 100,000 journeys were completed by people using the Night Tube during its first weekend of operation, Transport for London says.
• Buses battle it out on test trackBBC News visits an annual bus competition designed to test handling and fuel efficiency, which helps a UK bus group choose the next generation of vehicles.
• VW faces production delays amid disputeCarmaker Volkswagen introduces short-time working at six of its plants in Germany amid a dispute with two external suppliers.
• Second-hand car sales hit record level in first halfThe number of second-hand cars sold in the UK has reached its highest level yet with more than four million vehicles sold in the first half of this year.

Financial Times

• Details omitted in Renault emissions reportFears that government might be too lenient because of 20 per cent stake in carmaker

The Guardian

• Passengers could be charged £25 for failed claims against airlinesBA and easyJet, as well as Thomson and Thomas Cook, sign up to resolution service for delays, lost baggage and cancellationsPassengers of easyJet and British Airways, and the UK’s biggest package holiday operators, could be charged £25 if they make a complaint about delays, cancellations or lost baggage that is subsequently not upheld.The airlines, plus Thomson and Thomas Cook, have joined a dispute resolution service for tricky complaints that cannot be resolved by the companies themselves. But passengers who use this must pay if their case is unsuccessful. Continue reading...
• If the age of self-driving cars is upon us, what's keeping them off the roads?As Google and Uber trial prototypes, the future of fully driverless cars and safer roads should come sooner than anyone thought – but they’re in no mood to rush Sitting in the passenger seat of Google’s self driving car is a less bizarre experience than sitting in the driving seat, but it’s still unsettling. In the streets of Mountain View, outside the headquarters of X (once Google X, in the post-Alphabet age it’s moved out of mum and dad’s house and dropped the prefix), I got the chance to do just that.It’s partly unsettling because it’s hard not to feel a flicker of anxiety when you look ov...

The Telegraph

• Why a third runway at Heathrow would help the UK thrive in a post-Brexit worldWe have immense, depressing form when it comes to dithering over airports.
• BMX rider takes extraordinary hit to the face in attempt to skip rail crossing barrier

City AM

• More trouble for Southern: Card payment failure hits rush hourCustomers of Southern Rail, already fuming over ongoing service delays and then strike action, were dealt another blow on the morning rush hour commute.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Thieves steal tram undercarriages weighing FIVE TONNES from Wrexham yard The bogies, as they are known, were taken from the Five Crosses Industrial Estate in Minera

London Evening Standard

• Cab firms tell Uber to accept rules ‘that level playing field’Dozens of London-based minicab firms have called on Uber to abandon its legal challenge to new rules that require some drivers to sit a written English test.
• 'Don't call your ex': Night Tube 'rules' appear on Underground to remind late night revellers how to behaveComedy stickers reminding people how to behave on the new Night Tube services have mysteriously appeared in train carriages.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Centuries old tram tracks uncovered by Nottingham railway station Historic tram lines thought to be a century old have been dug up in the latest work at Station Street in Nottingham.

North Wales Live

• Amateur cyclist sets new 'world record' - on a Liverpool CitybikeHarry Wytton goes faste than a London's Boris Bike rider

Other Regional Press

• Merseyrail accused of discrimination by disabled passenger made to wait in boxMerseyrail have been accused of disability discrimination after a passenger was left 'humiliated' and 'embarrassed' after being made to wait in a box while waiting for a train in Southport.
• TAXI giant Uber is to launch in NewportThe app-based taxi firm, which uses drivers who use their own vehicles, has been granted an operator’s licence by Newport City Council.
• Anger at railway footbridge delayA LONG-awaited new footbridge at Newport railway station planned to be built by March 2017, has been delayed. The footbridge, linking Devon Place and Queensway, would replace a graffitied and secluded subway where two sex attacks took place in 2011.
• Bicester needs a bus group say residents after two more routes axed BUS users need to create their own campaign group if they are to prevent more services in Bicester being lost, a local councillor has warned.
• Manchester Airport opens new route to ChinaYorkshire firms now have strengthened links to China with the launch of a new direct flight from Manchester Airport
• New Lincoln bus website helps commuters get to their destinationA student at the University of Lincoln has created a new website to help commuters bypass the complications of the Lincoln bus timetable.
• NEW DUNDEE BUS SCHEME WILL BE JUST THE TICKETDundee commuters will soon be able to use one ticket on all three of the city’s bus operators.
• Land for potential rail routes protected in South Derbyshire local planThe document, which sets out a blueprint for development in the district for the next decade, notes the areas of potential development of railway stations in Castle Gresley, Drakelow and Stenson Fields, near Derby.
• Seaford’s petition plea for end to rail miseryLocal residents are calling on Chris Grayling MP to take action as there are still only a handful of Seaford-Brighton train services running despite the fact that Southern Rail’s ‘emergency timetable’ was supposed to end on August 7.
• Work set to begin on new rail interchangeThe project will include an onside rail freight terminal suitable for 750m freight trains and it will have direct connection into the National Freight Network and will be a three to three and a half year programme in various phases.
• Haley Sharpe Design helps to breathe life into Mail Rail exhibition For years the old Mail Rail tunnels under London have been gathering cobwebs. Now a Leicester design agency is helping bring them back to life for the public to enjoy.

Construction Enquirer

• Former Skanska boss to head Galliford Try’s HS2 team bidIndustry veteran David Blackburn has been appointed managing director of Momentum Infrastructure, a joint venture comprising Dragados, Galliford Try and Hochtief.

The Business Desk

• Birmingham Airport scales new heights after processing a record number of passengersBIRMINGHAM Airport has recorded its busiest-ever 12-month period, processing more than 11 million passengers.
• Uber set to launch food delivery rivalGROUND-breaking taxi app Uber is set to launch a food delivery service in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds in direct competition to rival Deliveroo.
• Airport makes £200,000 investment as passenger numbers take offTRAVELLERS from Doncaster Sheffield Airport are set for even faster journey times following a £200,000 investment in departure and security operations.
• Rehaul at North Yorkshire rail stationA REHAUL of the railway station buildings in Knaresborough got underway yesterday.

Aviation Industry

• Virgin Atlantic to offer live TV on its Boeing 787sUK long-haul operator Virgin Atlantic is to offer live TV on its Boeing 787s after signing a partnership with Panasonic Avionics and IMG. read more
• BA and China Eastern create new linksBritish Airways will increase its exposure to the booming Chinese market through a new codeshare arrangement with China Eastern Airlines. read more
• Analysis: Delta & Southwest technology crashes raise troubling questionsDelta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines are very different airlines. One is a global full-service airline with a fleet of varied aircraft types and multiple product offerings for passengers, while the other is the world’s original low-cost carrier with an all-Boeing 737 fleet, no business class and a mostly domestic operation. read more
• Editorial: Onboard safety videos need to change the scriptAll 300 people onboard the Emirates Boeing 777 escaped with their lives when the aircraft crash-landed at Dubai Airport and burst into flames. Sadly a firefighter was killed tackling the blaze, but the scale of the tragedy could have been so much larger. read more
• Delta to consolidate London Heathrow operationsDelta Air Lines will consolidate its London Heathrow Airport operations in Terminal 3 as of Sept. 14, the Atlanta-based airline announced Aug. 22. read more

Other News Sources

• These 2 charts show why your train commute in Britain is hellTrain journeys in the UK have sky-rocketed since the early 1990s while investment has failed to keep pace, explaining why commuting on the train can be such an over-crowded, horrible experience.
• Costain JV picks up final Crossrail contractA joint venture of Alstom Transport (UK), TSO and Costain has been awarded a £26m contract to build a rail maintenance depot in Plumstead.
• This self-driving bus could radically change public transportationMercedes-Benz wants to completely change your bus-riding experience. In July, the auto company unveiled its vision for the aptly named Future Bus — a semiautonomous bus that successfully completed a 12-mile route that included traffic lights, tunnels, and navigating around pedestrians.
• Cambridge City Council leaders respond to latest Government statement on devolutionThe Leader and Deputy Leader of Cambridge City Council, Councillors Lewis Herbert and Kevin Price, have issued a joint statement in response to the latest government media statement on devolution, reported today (22 August) in The Times.
• Fresh opposition over �250m marina scheme CAMPAIGNERS have launched a fresh legal challenge to the �250 million development of Brighton Marina.