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

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

BBC News

• Worcestershire Parkway rail station delayed until 2020The opening of England's newest railway station has been hit by fresh delays. Trains were due to start calling at Worcestershire Parkway, near junction seven of the M5, this month.
• Wales' Transport Minister Ken Skates investigated over bus subsidyClaims Ken Skates broke rules by ensuring funding for a service in his own constituency are probed.
• Greater Anglia: Delivery of new Bombardier trains delayedThe fleet of 111 new Bombardier trains will not enter service until the spring, says the operator.
• General election 2019: Your questions on HS2 answeredReaders share their thoughts on the high-speed rail link and ask what each party pledges to do.
• Unearthing Scotland's first railway track at TranentA dig is planned at a site in East Lothian, which is listed among Scotland's top archaeological discoveries in 2019.
• Lorries topple and train lines close as wind and rain cause disruptionRoads are closed and trains and ferries cancelled as heavy rain and strong winds batter Scotland.
• 'World's first' fully-electric commercial flight takes offA fully electric seaplane flight has been hailed by operators as the start of a third

Financial Times

• Uber: steer clear Company shares are trading 38 per cent below their listing price
• Eddie Stobart to offer investors choice in financingRights issue early next year follows rescue by private equity group Dbay

The Guardian

• One-third of Thomas Cook customers still waiting for refundsUK aviation regulator fails to meet its own 60-day repayment target for those hit by collapseTens of thousands of Thomas Cook customers waiting for refunds for holidays booked with the travel company have not been repaid on time after the body making the payments missed a self-imposed deadline.The world’s oldest tour operator collapsed earlier this year after failing to secure emergency funding from banks, leaving about 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad. Continue reading...
• World's first fully electric commercial aircraft takes flight in CanadaCompany hails start of the ‘electric aviation age’ after 15-minute test flight in VancouverThe world’s first fully electric commercial aircraft has taken its inaugural test flight, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and flying for 15 minutes.“This proves that commercial aviation in all-electric form can work,â€� said Roei Ganzarski, chief executive of Australian engineering firm magniX. Continue reading...

The Herald

• ScotRail services chaos due to floods, high winds and safety issuesTrain services across Scotland have suffered cancellations and delays

The Scotsman

• Heritage railways getting steamed up over coal supply John YellowleesWhen the use of steam power on Britain’s railways ended in 1968, the notion of heritage rail was unknown. No one foresaw the huge role that heritage railways would come to play in Britain’s railway scene today.

Times Online

• Rolls-Royce’s biggest investor Value Act may cut stake as Bradley Singer leaves board [subscription]The biggest shareholder in Rolls-Royce has resigned from the aerospace company’s board after almost four years, leading to expectations that the US activist investor could cut its stake.
• Councils rely on diesels while charging drivers who use them [subscription]Local authorities are overwhelmingly reliant on diesels despite motorists facing charges for driving the vehicles on city centre roads.
• Ed Pierson: I’m uneasy about my family flying on 737, whistleblower told Boeing [subscription]Months before two Boeing 737 Max crashes killed 346 people a senior manager warned the company of serious problems at the factory that built both aeroplanes, it has emerged.

City AM

• All change at Stagecoach as chairman steps downStagecoach suffered a fall in revenue in the first half of the financial year, as chairman Sir Brian Souter said he planned to step down this morning.

Mail Online

• West Coast line's new bosses suggest bringing in extra tier of carriage - let's hope it's like theseAfter the war, UK society became more equal, so third-class was dropped in 1956. But was it as awful as it sounds today? Pictured: 'Pub' in train open to 3rd class passengers.

Birmingham Post

• Nissan facing £18.6m fine over former chief executiveCompany says it has accepted the penalty relating to under-reporting of compensation to former chairman Carlos Ghosn
• Representative from Rolls-Royce’s biggest shareholder quits engineering giant’s boardValueAct Capital’s Bradley Singer has stepped down as a non-executive director

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Bid to tackle ring road where ‘rush hour lasts all day’A grant of almost £400,000 is being given to pay for a feasibility study to improve the ring road from Horsforth roundabout to Pudsey.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Transport Minister Ken Skates facing probe over Clwyd South bus service fundingFirst Minister Mark Drakeford confimed he is investigating The North Wales AM over an alleged breach of the Ministerial Code

The York Press

• Queen's honour for York rail tech firm Incremental SolutionsINNOVATIVE work in transport safety has led to a Queen's Award for Enterprise for a York-based company.

Wales Online

• What £20m of improvements for the A40 in west Wales will mean for driversThe plans for the road follow a consultation held earlier this year

Cambridge News

• The new A14 bypass opened yesterday - and drivers aren't too happy with itThey took to Twitter to share their opinions

East Anglian Daily Times

• Still no solution to Greater Anglia’s rural trains’ crisis – but older trains restore Ipswich to Cambridge serviceEngineers at Greater Anglia and Network Rail have still not found the cause of the signalling problems that have emerged since the introduction of new Stadler trains on many routes.

Other Regional Press

• Electrification costs have tripled and passing loop may take 10 years - Devon's railway improvements may be delayedConcerns were registered over the lack of electrification of railways in the South West beyond Bristol, the stalled progress over the Okehampton line, the delay in the attempt to reopen the line to Tavistock from Bere Alston, as well as the capacity issue due to the single track running in East Devon that restricts the numbers of trains that can run between Exeter and London Waterloo.
• Hitchin and Harpenden parliamentary candidates vow to improve train servicesThe Hitchin Rail Commuters Campaign group and Harpenden Thameslink Commuters Group invited Conservative parliamentary candidate Bim Afolami, Liberal Democrat candidate Sam Collins and Labour candidate Kay Tart to speak about how they would address the problems faced by commuters.
• Greater Anglia to axe food and drink on numerous trainsHard-pressed train passengers have been dealt another blow, with Greater Anglia axing a host of its early morning catering services on the Norwich to London line in the New Year.

Train Operators

• So long, farewell, ScotRail’s Class 314 goodbyeIt’s the end of the line for ScotRail’s Class 314 fleet, as the train operator has confirmed it is withdrawing the last of the trains from service.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Northwest London set to benefit from improved bus linksResidents of west and northwest London are benefitting from improved transport links as changes to routes in outer London were implemented on Saturday (7 December). Four new bus routes have been introduced including two improved links between Heathrow, Hillingdon and Harrow (278 and X140), with the remaining two additional routes between Acton, Hammersmith and Fulham (218 and 306). Three other routes have been extended, with the H9 and H10 now serving more parts of Northwick Park Hospital and the 440 extended to Wembley Eastern Lands and rerouted between Acton and North Acton. Nine further ro...
• Avanti starts running West Coast Main Line after Virgin franchise endsAvanti West Coast has taken over from Virgin Trains as the operator running the West Coast Main Line. The new operator's parent company is a partnership between Aberdeen-based firm FirstGroup and Italy's Trenitalia. Avanti's first train left Euston for Manchester on Sunday at 08:10 GMT and arrived three minutes late, according to the National Rail app. It replaces Virgin Trains, which was Britain's longest-running rail franchise after 22 years of service. The end of the Virgin Trains franchise comes after Virgin Group and Stagecoach had their bid to continue running trains on the line disq...

Rail Advent

• New trains for Nottingham arrive EARLY!Northern has announced that it has introduced two of their new Class 195 diesel trains between Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham, one week ahead of the proposed introduction!
• More trains from Middlesborough to Whitby from NorthernNorthern has announced that they are to introduce more train services to help passengers between Middlesbrough and Whitby.

Railnews

• Three classes planned for Avanti West Coast New Intercity West Coast operator Avanti has revealed that it is planning another class of travel, which would be inserted between Standard and First. Passengers buying tickets for the intermediate 'premium economy' class would sit in first class areas but have fewer at-seat extras than first class ticket holders, with snacks, for example, rather than meals. Full details of catering on board Avanti trains have yet to be spelt out, although Avanti has said that a buffet counter or 'shop' area will be retained, as well as at-seat trolleys. One major food supplier is expected to be Marks and Spe...

Aviation Industry

• Air France-KLM boosts Qantas cooperationAir France-KLM will enhance its partnership with Australian flag carrier Qantas, adding more codeshares with LCCs Jetstar Airways and Jetstar Asia flights. read more
• KLM commits to biofuel purchase KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced plans to buy an undisclosed quantity of used cooking oil-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Finnish company Neste, which will supply flights from Amsterdam Schiphol on a drop-in basis. read more

Other News Sources

• Hundreds of South Western Railway trains will be cancelled on general election voting day Union members will return to work on Thursday, but it doesn't mean there will be a full train service running
• Campaigner chuffed with plans for speed restrictionsA CAMPAIGNER says she is chuffed after the council agreed to install traffic calming measures following a crash on her street.