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

Tuesday, 25 June 2019

BBC News

• Aberdeen City Council to assess possible First Bus bidAberdeen City Council is to investigate how it could make a bid to buy the First Aberdeen bus operation. Aberdeen-based transport firm FirstGroup is looking at spinning off its UK buses arm.
• Call for end to Highland airport 'tax haven'An exemption to people paying air passenger duty at Inverness Airport is being challenged by rivals.
• Greater Manchester mayor's plan to take control of busesPoliticians rather than transport companies would be given power to set bus routes under the proposals.
• Eurostar defends alcohol limits on trainsPassengers have complained about the restrictions of one bottle of wine or four cans of beer.
• Changi Airport: Drones disrupt flights in SingaporeA rise in drone use has created growing security concerns for airports around the world.

Financial Times

• Manchester mayor moves to end high bus fares and erratic servicesAndy Burnham aims to adopt London-style franchise system for region’s services

The Guardian

• The £1.4bn question: 1,800 miles of cycle routes or 10 minutes off a car journey?Greater Manchester’s Bee Network has just £160m of the cash it needs, unlike a junction near Bedford. lmost exactly a year ago, Chris Boardman – the Olympic champion turned walking and cycling commissioner – unveiled a bold vision: Greater Manchester was to turn itself into a Dutch-style cycling paradise by building a 1,000-mile network of walking and biking routes called Beelines, after Manchester’s civic symbol, the worker bee.
• FirstGroup investor Coast Capital makes some good pointsAmid a messy breakup strategy, putting new experts on the Firstgroup board makes sense
• Coast Capital gets backer in shareholder rebellion at FirstGroupColumbia Threadneedle has said it will back resolutions to replace board in demand for group’s exit from UK rail
• Greater Manchester considers taking back control of bus networkMayor Andy Burnham wants city region to be first in UK to use London-style powers. Greater Manchester could become the first city region in the UK to take back control of its buses after a report recommended refranchising its vast and fragmented network.

The Telegraph

• Win or lose, FirstGroup chairman’s days are numbered [Subscription]FirstGroup will today face the music in an existential dust-up with its biggest shareholder. Coast Capital Management, a noisy Wall Street hedge fund, will have its plans to oust half of First's board put to the vote at an investor meeting.
• Eurostar's strict new wine rules stop people bringing bottles back from ParisMany who travel to France bring a few bottles home so they can savour the fading memories of their holiday even in the grey British drizzle.

Times Online

• Activists sweep the board [Subscription]First Group under pressure as De La Rue caves in to investor demands
• Boris Johnson’s change of heart on Heathrow should be welcomed [Subscription]Boris Johnson’s ambiguity on the Heathrow expansion may at first appear less Churchillian and more Katy Perry: he’s hot then he’s cold, he’s yes then he’s no, he’s in then he’s out.
• Heathrow crackdown to beat minicab congestion [subscription]Heathrow will introduce measures to regulate minicabs after figures showed a sharp rise in the number of passengers being driven to the airport by private hire vehicles.

Parliament

• Law for net zero emissions begins passage through ParliamentWe can make history as the first major economy in the world to commit to ending our contribution to global warming, Minister Skidmore tells the House of Commons

City AM

• Heathrow expansion is taking off – now let’s inject some competition into aviationIt is an airport running at full capacity – and has been for years. Now at last, with the parliamentary approval of a new runway and the release of competing development plans, Heathrow expansion is back on the menu, boys.

Sky News

• Heathrow's third runway may prevent other UK airports from expanding, adviser warnsThe warning comes only weeks after Theresa May announced that the UK would seek to significantly lower emissions by 2050.
• Climate change adviser says PM's plan will fail unless it is dramatically stepped upTheresa May is being warned over the plan she announced last month which aims to cut emissions to net zero by the year 2050.

Bolton News

• 'Tube map for Greater Manchester' revealed as major changes plannedA MAJOR transport overhaul could see control of buses and trains transfer into local hands. New plans unveiled by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham could mean that Bolton’s bus and train passengers can travel across the region with a simpler integrated ticket system and London-style capped fares.

Bristol Live

• First Bus Bristol launch recruitment drive to get more female drivers'It’s good to be part of challenging the perception of what it is like to work in the bus industry'
• Future of First Bus, GWR and South Western Railway hangs in balance as crunch vote loomsThe company which manages Bristol’s buses and trains is facing a showdown with its biggest investor tomorrow (June 25) when a crunch vote on its future takes place.

London Evening Standard

• Tube strike ballot leaves two million Londoners facing prospect of summer travel chaosMore than two million people face Tube strike action across the network from the end of next month under plans announced today.

Manchester Evening News

• Bus firms go to war with Andy Burnham - warning of ‘massive’ council taxpayer bill for regulation plansStagecoach and other operators have come out fighting after the mayor announced Greater Manchester’s plan to press ahead with franchising
• Why the massive plans for Great Ancoats Street are causing a huge rowThe city council are spending £9.1m turning a stretch of the ring road into a 'European style boulevard' - but some say the plans are 'pandering' to drivers

The York Press

• Julie Moody appointed to lead railway museum's £50m campaignYORK'S National Railway Museum has appointed Julie Moody as campaign director to lead its £50m ‘Vision 2025’ fundraising campaign.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Boris Johnson: HS2 would be cheap at £65 billionBoris Johnson has claimed HS2 would be “cheap” at £65 billion as he questioned the line’s spiralling budget.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• The 'shocking' number of thefts, sex assaults and attacks on Leeds rail networks revealed in new dataA "shocking" number of unsolved crimes across the railway network in Leeds and surrounding areas have been revealed in exclusive new data. Nine times out of ten, thieves are getting away with their crimes on railways across Britain, while around half of sexual offences on the network have no suspects identified, figures obtained from British Transport Police (BTP) show

Other Regional Press

• 'Lifeline' Baxenden bus service set to be axed due to low passenger numbersA ‘LIFELINE’ bus service, used by mainly elderly residents, is set to be axed. Accrington-based bus company Pilkington Bus will withdraw the service next month, blaming a lack of passengers.
• The millions to be spent prioritising buses on these two major Leeds roadsLeeds City Council says the project will provide 'better and reliable bus services'. An £11.7 million project plans to give buses priority along two busy Leeds roads and drastically reduce car usage. Leeds City Council is expected to approve funding for projects to transform the A65 and A61 North, between the Sheepscar interchange and Leeds Grammar School.
• New Blackpool to London train route set for 2020Flocking to the capital is set to become easier in Lancashire with the provision of a new train route. Trains are to run between Blackpool and London from Spring 2020, announces train operator Grand Central today (June 24).

Train Operators

• Maidstone East station set for £330,000 improvements to encourage rail commuters to cycleMaidstone East to benefit from improved cycle parking facilities as part of a £330,000 project to encourage rail commuters to cycle as part of their journey

Rail Advent

• RMT calls for Southern to be stripped of franchiseRMT has called for Southern to have its franchise removed as it finishes at the bottom of the train operator league.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Chief Executive of TfW James Price hails transformation of Welsh railwaysChief Executive of Transport for Wales, James Price hails £5bn plans for the transformation of Welsh Railways
• Andrew Haines, CE of Network Rail, tells BBC News his organisation could issue future rail franchisesAndrew Haines, the Chief Executive of Network Rail, has told the Today programme on Radio 4's BBC's flagship news programme that he would not rule out his organisation issuing future rail franchises
• 100 years of Women in Engineering, and transforming the future tooOne hundred years on from the birth of the Women in Engineering Society (WES), members of the rail and wider engineering industry gathered today at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. A lot has changed since those days of World War One, but today’s Women in Engineering event...

Aviation Industry

• PARIS 2019: GECAS chief expects leasing sector consolidationThe sprawling aircraft leasing community is bound to consolidate, though it is unlikely to get down to just a handful of players, the top executive of GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) said. read more
• Border crisis, staffing shortage disrupt US Global Entry programUS Customs and Border Protection will cancel some Global Entry program interviews through the end of the fiscal year as CBP officers are diverted to respond to a surge in migrant arrivals at the southwestern US border. read more
• Vienna Airport reports passenger record for first five months Vienna International Airport (VIE) saw a record number of passengers in the first five months of 2019 and anticipates further growth as traffic increases, particularly in the LCC market.

Other News Sources

• 50 years ago – planes start flying between Heathrow and GatwickTwo large important airports, but passengers landing at one might want to catch a flight at the other — so how about a plane flight between the two?
• Call for Borders Railway track upgradesElectrification of the Borders Railway could deliver major acceleration of trains and a higher frequency, but only if some essential track upgrades are delivered at the same time, say the Campaign for Borders Rail.
• New moves in bid to reopen defunct Horsham to Guildford rail lineBacking is being sought from local MPs to a new campaign aimed at reopening the former Horsham to Guildford railway line which has been shut since the 1960s.

EIN News Subscription

• Disappointment reigns after EU summit fails to deliver on carbon neutrality goalExperts have expressed disappointment with the outcome of a summit of EU leaders last week which failed to reach agreement on a “carbon-neutral” energy mix by 2050.
• Here are all the investigations and lawsuits that Boeing and the FAA are facing after the 737 Max crashes killed almost 350 peopleBoeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) face lawsuits and federal investigations in the wake of two fatal crashes by its 737 Max planes.