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

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Government

• The future of rail - Research BriefingThis paper provides an overview of the current rail system, including how it is delivered and how it performed and was financed up until the spring of 2020 when the UK locked down in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. It explains the impact of the pandemic on services and funding and sets out reforms to rail passenger services (franchises) as a result of the pandemic. The final section discusses the Williams Rail Review, initiated in 2018 and yet to report publicly, setting out the emerging conclusions and key questions to be answered.

BBC News

• Backlash as HS2 fells ancient Staffordshire woodlands 'too early’Clearance work for HS2 has been completed over the last week on ancient woodland, despite objections and concerns raised by the Woodland Trust.
• Jet suit trial for Great North Air Ambulance paramedicsA first test flight has been carried out in the Lake District.
• East and West Midlands travel card plans announcedPoliticians in the East and West Midlands ask for £20m from the government to fund the initiative.
• Coronavirus: Hundreds of thousands of airline jobs at risk, warns industry bodyA body representing 290 airlines warns it will be 2024 before air traffic reaches pre-pandemic levels.
• Extra facility opened for planes grounded by Covid-19Analysts say it's an indication of more trouble ahead for the struggling airline industry
• Brexit: Blow to UK car industry in search for EU dealDocuments seen by the BBC suggest key priorities for the car sector have been rebuffed by Brussels.

ITV News

• Cash-strapped London Underground could rely on 70-year-old Tube trains if TfL fails to secure another bailoutLondoners could be forced to travel on 70-year old Tube trains if the government fails to give Transport for London a £5bn financial bailout, mayor Sadiq Khan claimed today.

Financial Times

• UK coach sector warns of looming disaster without government support Thousand family-run businesses that rely on tourism face bankruptcy, trade body says

The Independent

• Zero-emissions electric bus service launched between Edinburgh and DundeeExclusive: Ember, a Scottish start-up, promises ‘zero emissions’ travel between Edinburgh and Dundee for £7.50 each way
• Aviation industry collapse could be ‘equivalent of when mines closed in the north’, warns Heathrow chief‘The aviation sector could be destroyed in this country and that would be a tragedy,’ says John Holland-Kaye

The Telegraph

• Lack of airport testing risks 'irreparable damage' to UK trade, say industry chiefsThe Government is under pressure from some of the biggest voices in industry to introduce airport testing for Covid

Times Online

• Hydrogen should be the foundation of a green economy [Subscription]For the better part of a year, the country has been in suspended animation. However, greener pastures lie ahead.
• Coronavirus: Commuters shun home-working call [subscription]Rush-hour traffic in big cities has not dropped despite Boris Johnson’s request for people to work from home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

City AM

• Uber's back and its rivals will just have to deal with itHaving scraped by on short-term “emergency licencesâ€� for about two years, Uber, the California-based ride-sharing app provider, has been given The post Uber's back and its rivals will just have to deal with it appeared first on CityAM.

Birmingham Post

• £20m bid for new Midlands-wide transport payment platformTransport chiefs across the West and East Midlands hoping to secure government backing for new contactless system

Bolton News

• Bolton company wins £36m railway contractA BOLTON engineering company has secured a £36m contract to supply fire doors for the HS2 rail link.
• Bolton company wins £36m railway contractA BOLTON engineering company has secured a £36m contract to supply fire doors for the HS2 rail link.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Step in over motorway access to Interchange 26 industrial park, councillor urges A CALL has been made for Highways England to step in and allow direct motorway access to a new industrial estate near the edge of Bradford.

Bristol Live

• What has happened to the 'forgotten metrobus link'?"I was surprised to see no mention of the South Bristol link"

Edinburgh Evening News

• Caledonian Sleeper losses increased by nearly 50% even before Covid crisisThe Serco-operated Scotland-London trains went further into the red in the year to March

Liverpool Echo

• Unroadworthy buses 'put passengers at risk' on major routesMaintenance failures at a former municipal bus company put public safety at risk, an inquiry has found.

London Evening Standard

• Transport for London finance fears over Boris Johnson's 'work from home' pleaBoris Johnson’s plea for people to “work from home if they can” to curb the second wave of Covid will blight Transport for London’s efforts to restore its finances, it is feared.

Northern Echo

• Teesside to be clean energy leader and home of UK's first hydrogen transport centreTHE UK’s first research, development and testing centre for hydrogen transport will be based on Teesside, the Government has announced.

The York Press

• Free taxi service for blue badge holders extended to end of year A FREE taxi service for blue badge holders from Monk Bar Car Park to the city centre has been extended.
• Ambulances get permission to use bus lanes when not on blue lights AMBULANCES will be allowed to use bus lanes in York even when they are not using blue lights.
• £250k cycle ramp and traffic lights plan for Scarborough Bridge route A NEW cycle ramp is set to be created near Marygate Car Park and Scarborough Bridge.

Other Regional Press

• Councillors debate petition against 'half-baked, ill-thought-out and dangerous' A4 bus laneA petition calling on Slough Borough Council to abolish its experimental A4 bus and cycle lane has been debated by councillors.
• Bus passengers urged to travel at different times as numbers are on the riseBus passengers are being encouraged to get earlier services as more people return to public transport in Norfolk.
• WI-FI NOW AVAILABLE AT ISLE OF WIGHT TRAIN STATIONSAll 187 stations on the South Western Railway (SWR) network – including Island Line – now have Wi-Fi available.
• Commuters using Rowley Regis station hit out at lack of social distancing on trainsCOMMUTERS using trains through Rowley Regis have complained about being "packed in like sardines" with no social distancing.
• Sadiq Khan warns London economy at risk without TfL bailoutLondon’s entire economy will be at risk if the Government fails to provide a second bailout for Transport for London (TfL), Sadiq Khan has warned.
• Bakerloo line extension dropped from TfL’s Government wish listPlans to extend the Bakerloo line from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham and beyond - via the Old Kent Road - have been put on the back-burner by Transport for London.
• Car Free Day was lost on driversBELIEVE it or not, Tuesday was Car Free Day, though judging by the traffic jam stretching nearly the entire length of Bushey Mill Lane, the bold initiative promoted by Transport for London was lost on drivers locally.
• Bus firms blacklist estate as yobs fire BB guns at terrified driversStagecoach and First have made a 'last resort' decision
• Jaguar Land Rover pledges to use this strange new material in its future carsThe Coventry car maker will be using a new greener material
• Plans for London-style Oyster card public transport schemeThe Government is being called on to fund the scheme which would integrate payments for rail, bus and tram journeys

C.N.N.

• How Singapore's Changi Airport is adapting during CovidSingapore's airport is offering new activities for locals, such as a restaurant in an A380 jet.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• TfL opens southeast London’s first major protected CyclewayTransport for London (TfL) has opened a major new Cycleway between Tower Bridge Road and Rotherhithe, which is set to make cycling and walking safer and easier for thousands of people in the area and beyond. The need for alternatives to cars and public transport continues to be hugely important as the pandemic continues.  The 3.6km section of Cycleway 4 follows a key corridor along Jamaica Road and Tooley Street and connects southeast London to central London via a fully protected cycle route for the first time. As part of the work, Rotherhithe roundabout was completely overhauled, trans...
• Digital Catapult launches Made Smarter Technology Accelerator and calls for manufacturing industry partnersDigital Catapult, the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation centre, has launched the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator by calling for medium and large manufacturing industry partners to participate. The programme aims to help manufacturers solve some of their key challenges, as well as fast-forward and shape the UK’s technology adoption directly into industry.  Following successful onboarding, partners will work together to set the industry challenges which will see companies from the UK’s world-leading digital technology innovation community develop prot...
• Mayor launches heavy vehicle scrappage scheme to tackle toxic airA new scrappage scheme targeting some of the most polluting vehicles has been launched in advance of the tighter Low Emission Zone (LEZ) standards, which will come into force on 1 March 2021.  Heavy vehicles play an important role in the city but they also disproportionately impact London’s air quality and are responsible for a significant proportion of road-based emissions. The Mayor’s scrappage scheme will help remove barriers to small businesses and charities playing their part in cleaning up London’s air, which is even more crucial to protecting public health given ...

Christian Wolmar

• Rail 911: The campaign the railways must launchThe scene: Waterloo station, on Saturday, the first day of August. Time: noon. I have to negotiate a long funnel with lots of social distancing messages to reach the counters of ticket office. Presumably it was put up in anticipation of the crowds who would be seeking buy tickets but it is empty. There are two clerks available in the booking office both sitting twiddling their thumbs.

Rail Magazine

• Hitachi targets export opportunities from Newton AycliffeVery High Speed Trains (VHSTs) built in Britain could be exported to Europe and even further afield from Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe factory.

Other News Sources

• Bristol Airport pursues A38 dual carriageway plansBristol has applied for a compulsory purchase order on 22 pieces of land so it can turn the A38 into a dual carriageway on the approach to the airport.
• TfL ignores calls to further delay Direct Vision StandardTfL is set to enforce the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) and tighten the London-wide Low Emission Zone (LEZ) from 1 March 2021, despite industry calls for both schemes to be further delayed during the pandemic.
• 'SCOOT over': Siemens and TfL launch traffic control FUSIONSiemens Mobility and Transport for London (TfL) have announced the launch of Sitraffic FUSION, an all-new adaptive traffic control solution.