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

Tuesday, 24 October 2017

BBC News

• Driver in Kings Cross buffer crash was 'fatigued'Five people reported minor injuries in the 4mph crash, which pushed the buffers back over one metre.
• 'One-off' £1.5m supercar damaged in crash at TangmerePolice believe the Pagani Zonda had been in a convoy of supercars when it hit a crash barrier.
• Department set to decide on new minibus driving curbsThe decision will affect community transport drivers who use a car driving licence when driving a minibus.
• Singapore to freeze car numbersThe country cited land constraints and improved public transport as reasons for the cap.

Financial Times

• Chinese train maker falls after profit slashed 20%

The Guardian

• Air pollution is killing us. As a GP I welcome this new charge on drivers | Chris GriffithsFrom today the most polluting vehicles on London roads will face a ‘toxicity’ fee. It’s a vital first step towards cleaning up the UK’s dangerously dirty airA report released last week by international experts shows pollution to have caused more deaths in the UK than in many other countries in western Europe. Air pollution is largely invisible, so it is hard to grasp how much damage it is doing to our health. But studies like the Lancet commission on pollution make it clear that poor air quality increases not only the likelihood of developing a range of respiratory illnesses, but also the freq...

The Herald

• Peoples Ford chief issues warning to ChancellorThe owner of one of Scotland’s best-known car dealerships has warned Philip Hammond “not to tie the industry’s handsâ€� by announcing unrealistic emission targets or penalising motorists with increased taxes.

The Huffington Post

• These Self-Charging Car Batteries Could Revolutionise The Electric Car

The Telegraph

• French police open manslaughter probe after British tourist killed in horrific boat crash 
• RAF recruits cyber experts to probe planes' weaknesses
• America prepares to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour alert for first time since 1991 
• JetBlue plane makes emergency landing in New York after bird strike
• Queen visits HMS Sutherland to mark 20th anniversary of ship's commissioning
• New digital railcards could spell the end of paper versions 
• Britain to give Canada the John Franklin expedition shipwrecks, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror

Times Online

• Sadiq Khan plans to charge diesel drivers £24 a day in London [Subscription]More than 150,000 diesel car drivers face paying up to £24 a day for even the shortest journeys under plans by the mayor of London to tackle air pollution.
• Car market was due a change in course [Subscription]Funny thing, the car dealership business. When you’re driving into a brick wall, the only thing to do is plough on regardless. At least that’s how Trevor Finn, the Pendragon chief executive, tells it. If only his customers were so reckless.
• Ryanair pilots threaten strike for better pay and free snacks [Subscription]Pilots at Ryanair have threatened to strike if there are not significant improvements to pay and conditions.
• Polluting diesel trains could derail Sturgeon travel pledge [Subscription]Nicola Sturgeon has been warned that her high-profile pledge to make Scotland the first part of the UK to embrace electric travel will be undermined by the lack of any coherent plan to get rid of diesel trains.
• Old-fashioned forecourts and the end of the road [Subscription]What the internet is doing to the high street, online browsing for your next car is doing for the traditional forecourt. The car showroom as we know it may be dead within a generation.
• Sales crash forces profit warning at Pendragon [Subscription]Waning demand for new cars has sent shares in Britain’s biggest motor retailer crashing as Pendragon admitted that its profits had gone sharply into reverse.

City AM

• MPs to scrutinise impact of Brexit on aviation in one-off evidence sessionMPs will hold a one-off session next week to consider Brexit’s impact on aviation, after the industry has called for certainty on flying rights when Britain leaves the European Union.
• Ryanair puts off cabin bag rule changes amid raft of flight cancellationsBeleaguered budget airline Ryanair is delaying planned changes to its cabin bag policy, which will now come into effect early next year.

Mail Online

• Teacher dies after being hit by lorry cycling in London Former Metropolitan Police constable Claudia Manera, 51, suffered fatal injuries when she collided with a lorry as she cycled home through Ealing, west London.
• UK gives Sir John Franklin shipwrecks to Canada The UK Government is giving the shipwrecks from Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition in search of the Northwest Passage to Canada. The UK will keep some artefacts on board.
• £1.5m Italian supercar is smashed to bits in Sussex crash A Pagani Zonda being driven in convoy with other supercars near Chichester was torn to pieces on Saturday after the driver lost control in wet conditions and slammed into a barrier.
• National Rail is offering commuters a new railcard on app Train passengers could avoid hefty fines for forgetting their railcard as they will soon be available on smartphones.
• Pendragon: Market for new vehicles cannot get any bigger Britain has reached ‘peak’ car, according to Trevor Finn, the chief executive of Pendragon, who says so many people now own their own vehicle that the market for new cars simply cannot get any bigger.

The Mirror

• Rugby player and policeman help restrain 'drunk woman attacking passenger and crew on flight' The TUI Manchester to Cancun flight was diverted to Canada and a 34-year-old British woman was detained by police on Sunday after pilots raised the alarm
• Devastating pictures after driver crashes £179k Ferrari into safety barrier - on a straight road Police took to social media to share the gaffe and captioned pictures of the vehicle being towed away with the word 'oops'

This is Money

• London's T-Charge for older cars: What you need to know How do you find out if your car is affected by the T-Charge? How do you pay it? Can you get a discount? And where in London does it apply? All of these questions and more are answered.

Birmingham Mail

• Airline scraps flights to Spain from Birmingham Airport Low-cost carrier Norwegian says it has taken the decision following a review of its operations
• New fleet of £500,000 zero-emission buses coming to Birmingham City Council receives major grant funding to trial pollution busting buses 

Bolton News

• Bolton misses out on £2 million funding for road that could kickstart town centre redevelopmentBOLTON has missed out on £2 million of funding to create a vital link road to a town centre site earmarked for a huge transformation.
• Couple claims train conductor ‘verbally abused’ them in family railcard fiascoA FAMILY say they are ‘disgusted’ with how they were treated by a train conductor on a journey from Durham to Manchester Piccadilly.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Campaigners have the perfect platform for station improvementsImprovement work is on track at one of the district’s rail stations, as the efforts of a group of volunteers is praised.

London Evening Standard

• London's new £10 T-charge from TfL hailed by Sadiq Khan as 'action now' on deadly pollution, but motorists angry at lack of signsSadiq Khan today hailed the T-charge as "action now" to tackle London's toxic air scandal but risked angering motorists by not putting up signs telling them of the new levy.
• What is the T-charge in London? When does the TfL payment come into force? Map, cost plus all you need to knowThe new T-Charge came into effect today as part of a plan by Mayor Sadiq Khan to tackle the scourge of toxic air pollution in London.
• Fatigued train driver who crashed into King's Cross buffers 'had mini-sleep', rail accident report findsThe driver of a train which crashed into buffers as it pulled into King's Cross station had a mini-sleep, an investigation into the crash has found.
• Pagani Zonda: Extremely rare £1.5m supercar badly damaged in Sussex crashAn extremely rare supercar worth £1.5million has been badly damaged after smashing into a road barrier in west Sussex.
• London's tech chief Theo Blackwell: Uber licence ruling is not an attack on innovationSadiq Khan's new digital officer today promised to "leave the door open" to new technologies like drones and driverless cars operating in London's sky and streets.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• London just introduced a 'T-Charge' for drivers - could Newcastle be next?The charge is an attempt to deter motorists driving older, more-polluting vehicles, from using roads in Newcastle city centre

Wales Online

• Children trying to get to school were stopped from getting on a packed train Arriva Trains Wales said the incident was due to running fewer carriages because of the recent extreme weather
• New images reveal how Swansea could be transformed with cable cars, a luge and a zip wire Bosses of the company behind the plan have been in Swansea to talk about their ideas
• Calls for metro-style transport system to reach Carmarthen Proposals for a new £1 billion metro system that could serve parts of West Wales have been tabled
• These trains are cancelled or will be operating a limited service on Tuesday Many others will have fewer carriages because of Storm Brian damage

Peterborough Telegraph

• Works to improve safety at accident hotspot on the A605Part of the A605 is to close over the weekend to allow for works to improve the safety of the road where there have been several fatalities this year.

Reading Evening Post

• Campaigners convince Reading Buses to change controversial plan for Caversham routesThe bus operating has revised its proposals for buses running in Caversham

Other Regional Press

• 20mph zones could be created across Watford as police funding securedThe possibility of creating new 20mph zones across Watford will be explored after road safety funding from Hertfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner was secured.
• Disruption set to begin today on major bus route into Southampton A BUS company is warning that there will be disruption and diversions to one of its main routes into the city beginning today.
• PHOTOS: £20million scheme to save city's bridges from crumbling A £20MILLION scheme to save two of Hampshire’s busiest road bridges from crumbling is set to get underway next month.
• New £5m government boost to improve Oxford's Botley RoadA PLAN to improve a busy route into Oxford for cyclists and people using public transport has got a £5m boost from the government.
• Drivers can still take rat run to avoid bus gate as rising bollards are brokenIT’S a tale of two sets of rising bollards that should be moving up Oxfordshire County Council’s agenda, according to a city councillor.
• Southeastern and Southern Christmas services affected by Thameslink projectAnyone who's planning to travel to London around Christmas is being warned of disruption as work continues on a major project.
• Parking at Manchester Airport vs Leeds Bradford: one is among the most expensive, the other is the cheapest One is among the priciest for picking up passengers while the other is free
• Drivers left trapped at Great Northern Retail Park for 90 minutesMystery to why shoppers stuck in car park for an hour and a half
• Coventry's trams could cost just a tenth of Birmingham's It has been claimed the first route could be delivered for as little as £42m

C.N.N.

• Singapore slaps limit on the number of cars on its roadsAlready a challenging place to buy a car, Singapore is stepping up efforts to reduce traffic on its congested streets.

Forbes

• Wizz Air UK: A Case Study In Brexit ScaremongeringIf the Brexit vote is such a disaster for UK aviation, why is eastern Europe's largest low-cost carrier setting up a London-based subsidiary?
• There's A New Way To Figure Out Why Your Car Insurance Costs So MuchThink of it like a credit score for your insurance.

Washington Post

• Toyota to curb N. America production after quake TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker, said Thursday it expects to halt production at some of its factories in North America due to shortages of parts from Japan following a devastating earthquake.

Buying Business Travel

• Southend set for Flybe capacity boostPartnership increasing seats by 80 per cent

Rail Magazine

• Analysis - How the HSTs are being transformed for Scottish servicesRICHARD CLINNICK investigates the work being done to modify Great Western High Speed Trains before their cascade to north of the border
• Tensions rise over new East Midlands franchise Government consultation for next East Midlands rail franchise continues to divide business and community leaders at opposite ends of the Midland Main Line.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Forres station to 'transform' Scottish rail travelScotland’s newest station has been officially opened as part of the Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement Project. It is hoped that the project, funded by the Scottish Government, will transform rail travel between the two cities and slash journey times. The station was completed during the...
• HS2 preparation works ran £200m under budget, says DfT reportSpending on preparation for HS2 went over £200m under budget, according to a report by the Department for Transport. The High Speed Rail (Preparation) Act 2013 Expenditure Report, which details the total spending for the period from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017, states that there was a...
• New Abbey Wood station opens on scheduleAbbey Wood’s new station building which will serve the Elizabeth Line in London and the south east has opened today. The station has been delivered by Network Rail as part of the Crossrail project to allow passengers using the Elizabeth line to travel from Abbey Wood to Paddington, central...

Railnews

• Lime Street is back in business Liverpool Lime Street has reopened today after being largely closed to allow a 23-day Network Rail blockade. The work has been done to increase capacity, because peak demand at the largest station on Merseyside is expected to have doubled by 2043, with 40,000 passengers then arriving during a typical morning rush hour. During the closure, which was complete until 9 October when two platforms reopened for St Helens trains, some 2,000m of track was replaced, two new platforms were built and others were re-aligned and extended. Intercity trains have been terminating at Liverpool South Parkway du...
• Intercity Expresses return to service on GWR The new Hitachi Intercity Expresses withdrawn from public service last week after faults on the launch day are back on track and running well, said Great Western Railway. The company withdrew four 5-car Class 800 sets, which are running in pairs, after Wednesday night. Upgrades to software were carried out overnight, and the units concerned then ran under test on Thursday before being restored to their planned diagrams in passenger service on Friday morning. A spokesman for GWR said the software issue had affected the air conditioning and some other on-board services, including information sc...
• Thameslink signalling breakthrough EXCLUSIVE: The new system of signalling for Thameslink through central London has moved to a crucial stage, with ERTMS Level 2 and its component ETCS now approved for most train movements except those carrying passengers. The first trials of the European Train Control System began in July, but until this week the system could only be used during watertight possessions. The next stage, which is probably the last key landmark before full activation, began early on Sunday morning, when ETRMS and ETCS were switched on.

Other News Sources

• Wrecclesham crash: Jeremy Hunt says it is time for change after string of A325 accidents Road safety was the main focus of a meeting called by local councillors following the death of mother Amy Harris
• Protest against Heathrow Airport third runway will highlight number of extra flights if expansion goes aheadCampaigners will join MPs from across London and Surrey on Wednesday (October 25)