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

Monday, 07 September 2020

BBC News

• Covid-19: How to travel safely on the bus, train and subwayApart from the obvious precautions, what can you do to reduce your risk of catching or spreading the coronavirus on public transport?
• Dublin Airport: Drop-off and pick-up charges plannedApproval is being sought from planning authorities to introduce the change following the pandemic.

ITV News

• Government to review airport slot allocationsA review of airport slot allocation will form part of a five-year recovery plan for the aviation industry, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.
• Five years since first passengers travelled on Borders RailwayThe £294 million pound line, connecting Tweedbank to Edinburgh, was the longest domestic line to be built in the UK in a century.

Financial Times

• Production of Nissan’s UK flagship vehicle delayed furtherNew Qashqai model was supposed to embody carmaker’s commitment to Britain after Brexit
• Etihad chief pushes for health visas to boost passenger confidenceTony Douglas dismisses air corridors used by some countries as a ‘marketing exercise’
• BHP’s hopes to boost green credentials with LNG-powered ships met with scepticismNatural resources group charters bulk carrier vessels to transport iron ore from Australia to China

The Guardian

• UK rail operators plan to restore 90% of train servicesMove follows government pressure to get more commuters back to their offices and workplaces. Train operators will restore more services on Monday as the government seeks to encourage Britain's office workers back to their desks.About 90% of the usual schedule will be operating after the timetable change, and up to 98% of pre-pandemic commuter services in the south-east, although some of the remaining suspended train services are now unlikely to come back until December.

The Telegraph

• BA hits out over £500m bill for failed airport plans [subscription]Heathrow airport is considering passing on the bill for its failed third runway on to carriers

Times Online

• Use cycling and walking fund well or lose it, councils told [subscription]Councils have been told that they will get no more cash from a cycling and walking fund if they carry on abusing it with “random one-way systems” and pointless barriers.
• The dirty secret behind your ’green’ electric car [subscription]The automotive industry is driving growing demand for nickel, critical for batteries, despite the pollution that production can cause

City AM

• Rail firms cut services by 10 per cent due to coronavirusRail services will reportedly face a 10 per cent cut this autumn due to the coronavirus pandemic, with evening and weekend trains to be the hardest hit.

i News

• Train timetables reduced as companies face lack of commutersAutumn timetables will see some lines lose up to 35 per cent of services, with weekend and evening trains likely to be hardest hit

Birmingham Mail

• Real cost of an e-scooter verses buses, trains, cars, taxis and folding bicyclesThe Voi e-scooter service will cost users 1p every three seconds when Birmingham City Council launches the scheme on Thursday so the real cost of this "greener" way of travelling might surprise you

Birmingham Post

• University spin-out wins funding to develop cell transport technologyAtelerix is one of a number of companies on the Newcastle Helix site to win backing for cutting-edge science

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Are carbon reduction targets 'heroic' or 'potty?' AMBITIOUS targets to dramatically cut the use of cars in West Yorkshire could be described as either heroic or potty by one Councillor.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Morpeth Railway Station set for official opening after £2.3 million restorationThe town's station is now home to a café while a modern ticket office has been created with a guard's van-style taxi office in the station forecourt.

Northern Echo

• Hitachi Rail celebrates five years of train building in County DurhamA TRAIN builder has marked five years since officially opening its manufacturing factory in County Durham.

The York Press

• Cycle routes could be gritted again this winter - despite cost CYCLE routes could be gritted again this winter after a successful trial last year - despite the scheme pushing the council to overspend on its budget.

Yorkshire Post

• How pupils walking and cycling to school will change South Yorkshire for the better – Dame Sarah StoreyClass or year group bubbles, staggered break times, different start and finish times, not to mention additional hand-washing and sanitising – so much has changed to make sure everyone remains healthy.

Other Regional Press

• Rhondda Announces Improved Bus Links For Local CommunitiesA number of changes to local bus services are now in place across the County Borough, to improve upon the foundation level of core journeys that were agreed in the initial response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
• New ’lifeline’ bus service launched after community campaignA ’lifeline’ new bus service has launched following a successful community campaign to replace one which had been dropped over the coronavirus lockdown.
• Major change to train services from today including end to refund ruleTimetables were slashed in March as the virus led to a reduction in available railway workers and demand for travel.
• NO MONDAY MORNING TRAIN SERVICE DUE TO VANDALISMIsland Line’s service between Ryde and Shanklin has been suspended this morning (Monday) due to mindless vandalism.
• Plans to send sale of petrol and diesel cars in West Yorkshire by 2035Ambitious targets to cut the use of cars across the county include a 2000 per cent increase in cycling

BTN

• APD to be suspended?The Whitehall rumour mill was active over the weekend following a Monday embargoed statement from the House of Commons Transport Select Committee which highlighted the Government’s plans to publish a strategy for the recovery of the aviation sector during the autumn.
• ON THE SOAPBOX: John Holland-KayeThis is the full speech he gave to members of the Aviation Club, and friends, via Webinar, last Wednesday (2 September), delivered in firm but non-confronting manner which is his style. It is much longer than a usual SOAPBOX but worth taking in. Let us hope that members of the Government will have time to digest his words.

New Civil Engineer

• Hammersmith Bridge at risk of ’catastrophic failure’ without urgent repairsHammersmith Bridge is at risk of a collapsing unless funding can be secured to carry out “urgent” stabilisation work.
• Kings Cross rail works complete on £1.2bn East Coast UpgradeVital work was undertaken in and around London King’s Cross this weekend as part of Network Rail’s £1.2bn East Coast Upgrade.

Rail Business Daily

• LNER’s last new Azuma leaves the depot to join the fleetThey have replaced the existing fleet of 45 trains which run along the 940 miles of track between Scotland, North East England, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and London.

Other News Sources

• New East Lancs bus man to drive plans for the futureEAST Lancashire bus operator Transdev has a new appointed planning manager based in Burnley to navigate its way of out the coronavirus crisis.