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

Sunday, 09 December 2018

BBC News

• ScotRail: Checks urged amid timetable changeScotRail say the new timetable will allow for shorter journey times, more seating and services on updated routes.

The Guardian

• May I have a word about… Christmassy cascades on the railwaysReaders will forgive me if I’m more than a little boily-hotty about the daily commute
• Hooray for free buses – this is how we create a greener, cleaner worldLuxembourg’s plan isn’t catch-free and is only a start, but it’s just the sort of radical action that climate change demands
• Christopher Grayling may back 'flawed' TransPennine rail upgradeExclusive: sources say DfT committee recommends delay-plagued route should not be fully electrified
• Rail firms add extra services and pledge to avoid further chaosIndustry says it is learning lessons from disruption after previous timetable change Hundreds of additional daily train services are due to be introduced across Britain from Sunday, as the rail industry vowed it was learning the lessons from the debacle of the last timetable change in May.
• Kent council leader warns no-deal Brexit would spread chaos across countryPaul Carter says no-deal gridlock in Dover would cost national economy almost £1.75bn a week and require ‘boots on the ground’

The Independent

• Rail passengers face ‘pockets of disruption’ as new timetables come inRail travellers are anxiously awaiting the introduction of new train timetables, which take effect across Britain on Sunday morning. The rail industry has warned of possible “pockets of disruption” when new schedules take effect.

The Scotsman

• Dani Garavelli: End of the line for sorry ScotRail strategy Scotland’s railways have been failing for a long time. Google “ScotRail” and “mayhem” and there will be no shortage of hits. Whether it’s Storm Ali or engineering works or a lack of locomotives, the company always seems to have an excuse – and an alternative bus service – for passengers stranded in the middle of nowhere.
• ScotRail makes video to explain ‘slam doors’ on 40-year-old trainsScotRail is having to show passengers how to get on and off trains because it is reintroducing carriages with old-fashioned doors that it hasn’t used widely for 16 years.

Times Online

• London mayor Sadiq Khan ‘misled financial markets’ over knowledge of Crossrail delay [subscription]Sadiq Khan has appeared to admit that he knew as early as “June, July” that Crossrail, Europe’s biggest infrastructure project, was behind schedule — having previously insisted he found out only in late August.
• North ‘betrayed’ over HS2 Liverpool extension [subscription]The Treasury was accused last night of betraying the north of England after it emerged that officials had promised £7bn for regional rail services only to withdraw the offer one working day later.
• ULEZ fee — the new London pollution charge — may be mayor Sadiq Khan’s ‘poll tax moment’ [subscription]The ‘ultra-low emission zone’ will force 1m motorists to pay the £12.50 daily charge — or get off the road
• Railways face strike threat over pensions [subscription]Urgent talks are under way to avert a mass walkout on the railways in a growing row over pensions.
• Soaring Crossrail costs to soak up another £1bn as Tony Meggs is said to be lined up as new chairman [subscription]The delayed £15.8bn project is also understood to have approached a former oil industry executive about becoming its new chairman. Tony Meggs, a former BP technology chief who runs the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, could replace ousted chairman Sir Terry Morgan.

City AM

• Motability chief to resign after £2.2m bonus revealed by public spending watchdogThe boss of taxpayer-backed business Motability Operations will step down by 2020 following criticism of his pay and a scathing review that revealed he was line for a £2.2m bonus.
• Uber make step closer to floating shares as race with rivals Lyft intensifiesUber joined taxi company rivals Lyft in filing confidential paperwork with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission this week as both took a step towards an initial public offering.

Daily Record

• ScotRail fails to deliver against key performance targetsAnalysis of the five key areas today shows users face a service which in many cases is getting worse, not better.

The Mirror

• Manchester grinds to a halt with hundreds of rail passengers stuck at stationsLong queues and overcrowding are plaguing Manchester Piccadilly station this evening as hundreds attempt to board trains

Edinburgh Evening News

• Edinburgh Airport bosses in car park cowboy clampdownAIRPORT chiefs are looking into implement standards for car park firms in an effort to clampdown on any rogue operators.
• Kevin Buckle: Edinburgh’s lost railway could be restored A renewed call to look at reviving the Edinburgh Suburban & Southside Railway (ESSR) that used to circle the city, but hasn’t been in use since 1962, proved very popular on my social media this week.

Manchester Evening News

• This is why there was meltdown at Piccadilly train station on Saturday nightThere were long queues and overcrowding as scores of people tried to board trains out of the city
• This is why there was meltdown at Piccadilly train station on Saturday nightThere were long queues and overcrowding as scores of people tried to board trains out of the city

Metro

• £200,000,000 rail investment would only speed up journey time by two minutes A promised £218 million rail investment would only speed up journey times by two minutes, Transport Scotland bosses have said three years after the money was awarded.

Other Regional Press

• Northern's 'bus trains' are so bad even Iran got rid - why has Hull still got them?Described as 'trucks on tracks' - northern commuters are still enduring Northern's three-decade-old Pacer trains

Rail Advent

• £2.3m overhaul of Lichfield Trent Valley railway station underwayWest Midlands Railway has announced that work is now underway to install new lifts at Lichfield Trent Valley to ensure it’s accessible for everyone by Summer 2019.

Other News Sources

• Dundee Airport could lose emergency water craft as part of national shake-upDundee Airport’s water rescue craft is under threat as a review of the service is carried out.