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

Tuesday, 06 October 2020

BBC News

• Covid: Train passengers left out of pocket by local lockdownsTrain customers have expressed their anger at being unable to get refunds for tickets they can no longer use because of UK coronavirus restrictions.
• Disused Weymouth railway line 'wiped out without goodbye'A 155-year-old railway line in Dorset is being "wiped out without a goodbye", a campaigner has said.
• Boris Johnson will pledge £160m for offshore wind powerBoris Johnson will pledge £160m, saying wind will produce enough electricity for all UK homes by 2030.
• Worst September for UK car sales this centuryNew UK car registrations fell 4.4% last month from a year earlier, the motor industry says.

Financial Times

• Brussels reaffirms post-Brexit stance on airline ownership rules BA parent IAG says it has agreed contingency plans with national regulators on non-EU shareholdings

The Guardian

• Chalk streams and waterfalls: the natural wonders under threat from HS2 – in picturesHs2 threatens to carve up vast swathes of countryside, impacting its fragile ecosystem. Matt Writtle’s pictures of Chesham explore our delicate relationship with nature
• Airline passengers 'wait for refunds despite agents being repaid'Customers say Opodo and others fail to repay after easyJet and Ryanair cancelled flightsThousands of passengers have been left waiting for refunds after their flights were cancelled, even though the online travel agents they booked through have been paid by the airlines.Some customers are still owed money two months after their fares were refunded to their booking agents. Continue reading...
• Grant Shapps signals testing plan to cut 14-day quarantine for travellersGovernment considering single test after shorter isolation, rather than tests at airportsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA plan to introduce Covid-19 testing for international arrivals in an effort to cut the 14-day quarantine period is due to be unveiled, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has indicated.The beleaguered aviation industry had been lobbying for a two-test system, whereby travellers are tested at an airport on arrival from at-risk countries and again five or eight days later – with negative results allowing them to leave isolation earlier. Continue...

The Independent

• East Coast main line: Eight months of disruption about to begin for train passengersProject aims to increase passenger capacity by 10,000 each day

The Telegraph

• 'Hopefully not another anti-climax' – travel industry weighs in on upcoming airport testing announcement [subscription]Members of the UK’s travel industry have reacted to the news that the Government will make an announcement about airport testing "in the coming days".

Times Online

• Airport coronavirus tests cleared for take-off in bid to rescue foreign travel [subscription]A coronavirus testing system for arrivals into the UK is expected to be introduced this month under plans to halve the existing 14-day quarantine for people from “high-risk” countries.
• Latest e-scooter turns itself off the second riders leave the road [subscription]Electric scooters will be deactivated as soon as they mount the pavement to help to stop antisocial behaviour.

City AM

• Heathrow boss: PM told me airport testing will be in place 'in October'Boris Johnson has told the chief executive of Heathrow Airport that the UK will begin airport testing for coronavirus in two weeks time.

Mail Online

• E-scooters that SHUT DOWN when they mount a pavement get approval for use in Britain The electric scooters are disabled within a second of leaving a road, cycle lane or private land where the devices are legally allowed (file photo)

Network Rail

• Barmouth Viaduct’s biggest ever refurbishment is underwayNetwork Rail’s £25m upgrade of Barmouth Viaduct will see the historic landmark protected for local people and visitors for generations to come

Birmingham Mail

• 'Railcard robbery' - Dismay over decision train pass discountCouncillor Richard Worrall slams decision not to extend the validity of Railcards for passengers unable to use them during Covid lockdown

Birmingham Post

• Calls for PM to back eastern leg of HS2Phase 2b of the rail project would run from Birmingham to Leeds, via new East Midlands station in Toton, Nottinghamshire

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Claim that Northern Powerhouse will be a 'pipe dream' if local HS2 leg does not emerge soonTHE head of a North of England pressure group has claimed the Government’s Northern Powerhouse vision could become a “pipedream” if HS2 does not reach Leeds in the coming years, as calls to make the scheme a reality intensify today.

Manchester Evening News

• All rail lines blocked between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime StreetTrain services are disrupted between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street.

Wales Online

• Johnson to 'take forward' M4 relief road despite Drakeford rejectionPrime Minister Boris Johnson said it was 'quite extraordinary' that the Labour Welsh government spent £144 million on a study and the 'filed it vertically'

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Why Leeds and Yorkshire now need HS2 more than ever - Judith BlakeAS a country we face arguably our greatest challenges since the Second World War – a second wave of Covid-19 while, at the same time, doing everything we can to safeguard jobs and our economy.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Rail engineers complete project to replace four miles of Suffolk trackNetwork Rail engineers have replace four miles of track between Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds during a 10-week period of work on the line over the summer.

Other Regional Press

• 'Amazon night flights are keeping Southend Airport going'KEVIN Buck is shadow councillor in charge of transport. Of course he would like all night flights to stop but an agreement in place means the flights can continue. No-one can stop them although many have asked.
• Clean air call from airport campaignersCAMPAIGNERS are calling on councillors to 'say yes to clean air' - by opposing the expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport.
• Virgin Atlantic trials pre-flight Covid-19 testing for crew at HeathrowVirgin Atlantic has begun trials of rapid pre-flight Covid-19 tests for cabin crew and pilots departing Heathrow airport.
• 500 Somerset jobs after HS2 contract awardedA brand new factory will be built in Somerset to manufacture concrete components for the railway track of the ongoing large-scale HS2 project.
• Rail engineers complete project to replace four miles of Suffolk trackNetwork Rail engineers have replace four miles of track between Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds during a 10-week period of work on the line over the summer.
• London Covid: How TfL is making sure London Underground and buses are coronavirus freeTransport for London has told people using Tubes and buses in the capital that the "system is safe" in a bid to increase passenger confidence in using public transport again.
• 'I was right about masks'The boss of a bus firm that insists children wear face coverings to and from school says it is justified after a pupil's positive coronavirus test.
• Beyond a spoke: Third of green schemes scrappedA third of Kent's green transport schemes have been scrapped, with residents slamming KCC for being "out of touch" and failing to consult with them.

Airportwatch

• Tories pass on Dale questions [subscription]The government really doesn’t like tricky questions. The broadcaster Iain Dale was asked by Tory HQ if he would interview Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, for their online party conference.

Business Live

• North Wales rail transformation on UK transport review list after 'decades of under-investment’UK Government plan to boost transport infrastructure across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England
• Airbus boss says reducing working week could save Broughton jobsAirbus vice president Paul McKinlay says they have lost 40% of their business due to the pandemic

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Prime Minister launches review to boost connections across the UKFaster road and rail links to Scotland, upgrades to Welsh railways and new connections between Great Britain and Northern Ireland are among the range of potential projects to be considered in first of a kind study into improving transport infrastructure across the United Kingdom, launched by the Prime Minister

New Civil Engineer

• Industry welcomes rail minister decarbonisation commitmentThe Railway Industry Association (RIA) has welcomed rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris’ statement at yesterday's Conservative Party Conference that he is “deadly serious” about the decarbonisation of the rail network.
• Network Rail chair to assess Irish Sea bridgeNetwork Rail chair Sir Peter Hendy CBE will lead an independent review into UK transport connections, which will consider the feasibility of a bridge or tunnel between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Siemens Energy and Siemens Mobility join together to develop hydrogen mobilitySiemens Mobility and Siemens Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop and offer hydrogen systems for trains.

Railnews

• Monday essay: facts and fancies THE review of the railway industry which has been led by Keith Williams is still being kept behind closed doors. Sim Harris argues that it is time to publish what he has to say.
• Consultation starts on Cambridge South Network Rail has announced the start of a further public consultation about a new station in suburban Cambridge. Plans have been developed in principle for Cambridge South, which would serve Addenbrookes Hospital.

Other News Sources

• Edinburgh Airport publishes COVID-19 data on websiteEdinburgh Airport has created COVID-19 Dashboards and published them on its website in a bid to allow passengers to make more informed travel decisions.
• Southend Airport’s ‘strong and modest’ start to Covid recoveryAIRPORT bosses have insisted Southend will survive EasyJet’s decision to pull out, with “modest passenger numbers” and a “strong income” recorded despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Nigel Holness appointed as new Managing Director for MTR Elizabeth LineNigel Holness brings with him over 30 years’ rail industry experience and has worked at Board and senior executive level in a range of roles including Interim Managing Director for London Underground and Programme Director and Deputy Managing Director at MTR Crossrail (now MTR Elizabeth Line).
• London Theme Park developers could fund Crossrail extension to EbbsfleetPlans to extend Crossrail to Ebbsfleet in Kent could rest on whether the proposed £3.5bn London Resort Theme Park gets the go ahead.
• This is why the footbridge at a village railway station is missingThe footbridge at a village railway station has been take away to be renovated before being returned.
• Rail Interview: Rail Minister and Transport Committee Chair set out their views on rail policyToday, the Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris MP and Transport Committee Chair Huw Merriman MP took part in two separate interviews with Sunday Times Transport Editor Nicholas Hellen, as part of the online Conservative Party Conference.
• New Managing Director appointed for Unipart Rail & Unipart Manufacturing GroupUnipart Group, the leading independent manufacturing, logistics and consultancy group, has announced the appointment of Neil Walker as the Managing Director of Unipart Rail and Unipart Manufacturing Group.
• More electric car charging available for Blackburn residents BLACKBURN with Darwen residents can charge their electric cars in three new car parks.