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

Thursday, 08 October 2020

BBC News

• Supercars: Cameras set up to detect Knightsbridge noisy driversKensington and Chelsea residents complained that some streets were a
• Should your accelerator pedal curb your speeding?The EU proposes fitting all new cars with technology that makes it harder to exceed the speed limit.
• Coronavirus: Almost 900 Manchester Airports Group job cutsPassenger numbers at Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports have fallen by 27m.
• Covid: Taskforce to look at virus testing for UK arrivalsTravellers to the UK may soon be able to get a Covid-19 test to end their 14-day quarantine early.

Financial Times

• Airlines hope Covid-19 health pass will have passengers flying againUsers download a digital certificate to prove they have tested negative for coronavirus
• UK ‘travel task force’ to look at cutting virus quarantineMove to reduce self-isolation for arrivals through single or double tests
• Parcel groups seek to deliver greener ‘last mile’ processesSolutions to logistical problems have a nod to the past with an eye towards the future

The Guardian

• The e-scooter: road menace or saviour of the commute?They may be a common sight, but privately owned motorised scooters are still illegal on Britain’s roads and pavements. But with rental scheme trials taking place across the country, could they be answer to getting to work in the pandemic? Standing upright, you glide, ghostlike, along the street. You have no emissions. You are alone, outside, unlikely to catch anything or pass anything on. You are no burden to the public transport system, nor do you contribute much to congestion. You take up little space.Now you join a busier road, one with buses. Perhaps you feel small, vulnerable. But when th...

The Scotsman

• Let’s make best use of electric freight locomotives - Maggie SimpsonIn early September, Scottish Government placed rail freight squarely at the heart of the low carbon economy when they chose the Mossend International Railfreight Park to launch their new Green Investment Portfolio. The scheme aims to attract international investors for ten low carbon eco-friendly projects across Scotland, which range from hydrogen development, to advanced manufacturing and recycling.

Times Online

• Superstore carry-on leaves sour taste [Delays on the line]... At last an update on poor Keith Williams: the fellow stuck in the sidings since his rail review closed on May 31, 2019. A parliamentary answer from transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris has just tannoyed that the “Williams Review White Paper” is “upcoming” — but only when “the course of the Covid-19 pandemic allows”. Passengers are used to that sort of station announcement.
• Cleaner air must be a lasting legacy of the national crisis - Grant Shapps MP and Alok Sharma MP [subscription]ir pollution has troubled humans for thousands of years. The residents of ancient Rome referred to their city’s smoke cloud as heavy heaven (gravioris caeli) and infamous air (infamis aer). Emperor Justinian even attempted to legislate on air quality, proclaiming the importance of clean air as a birthright.
• Keeping lower levels of air pollution in and around schools could help pupils’ education [subscription]Reducing air pollution in and around schools could improve children’s ability to learn, and bestow the same benefits as almost a month of extra lessons, research has found.
• Doubt over Leeds link as ministers signal HS2 priority for Manchester [subscription]Concerns were raised over the future of the eastern leg of HS2 today as ministers announced plans to prioritise the west coast route to Manchester.

Daily Express

• HS2 might benefit North London, but not the North, it's doomed to failure – COMMENTAt the risk of sounding like a harbinger of doom akin to a crusty Extinction Rebellion fanatic, the country is on a slow march towards economic oblivion. Of course, XR's demands amount to shuttering the economy, so perhaps its members are more sanguine about the impact of lockdown on businesses or livelihoods.

i News

• HS2 latest: Ministers face demands to commit to Birmingham to Leeds link amid fears for eastern leg of railwayMinisters are facing growing demands to commit in full to the Birmingham to Leeds link of HS2 amid fears the Government may abandon the eastern leg of the railway.

Mail Online

• Heathrow bosses tells Supreme Court they want to press on with third runway plans that Friends of the Earth claim would 'contribute to major threat to life on Earth'Heathrow bosses today told the Supreme Court they want to press on with controversial plans to build a third runway that environmental campaigners insist would be 'a major threat to our environment and to life on Earth'.

The Mirror

• HS2 rail line from Birmingham to Leeds 'probably won't go ahead'Labour peer Lord Adonis warned that the building of the beleaguered HS2 between the Midlands and Yorkshire may not go ahead after a decision on the eastern was deferred

Sky News

• 'Queen of the Skies': British Airways retires final two jets in 747 fleetHeathrow Airport will witness aviation history later as British Airways retires its final two iconic 747 aircraft. 

Birmingham Mail

• Report into failings at West Midlands Trains after driver was killedInvestigation finds that no warning was sounded to anyone passing between the trains before they were 'coupled together' at Tyseley depot

Bolton News

• Pop-up cycle lanes appear on major Bolton roadPop-up cycle lanes have appeared on two key routes across the borough to encourage more active travel.

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.

Liverpool Echo

• 'Shoddy' roadworks cordoned off after concerns over street hazardRoad users were warned to beware after the work was carried out

The York Press

• Clean air day: York on buses, pollution and banning cars TODAY marks Clean Air Day - and city transport leaders have highlighted ways they are working to cut pollution.

Wales Online

• First electric buses in Wales to launch next week in NewportThe zero-emission buses, which promise to improve air quality, are the first of their kind in the country after a trial in Cardiff in 2018
• Flights between Cardiff Airport and Belfast are set to resumeEastern Airways is to resume flights between the two cities after the collapse of Flybe more than six months ago

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• HS2 reveals extension plan despite concerns on futureHS2 has announced new plans to improve connections between the Midlands and the North as concerns over the future of some parts of the line continue to mount.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Nearly 400 job cuts proposed at Stansted AirportNearly 400 jobs are set to be axed at Stansted Airport following a 90% reduction in demand for travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Leeds Live

• HS2 extension to Leeds and Sheffield ‘will probably not now go ahead’, says Lord AdonisThe Government has deferred decisions on the design of the eastern leg of Phase 2b of the high-speed railway
• Jet2 to cancel flights and holidays to Turkey until November Airline will this week suspend flights to Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman and Izmir and continue its suspension of Turkish package holidays

Other Regional Press

• First look at Cambridge South railway station as Network Rail confirms second consultationThis is how Cambridge South railway station could look, Network Rail has revealed.
• Heathrow Airport begins Supreme Court appeal over third runway blockHeathrow Airport began a Supreme Court appeal today (Wednesday) over the decision to block the build of a third runway.
• More holiday flights planned from Bournemoutth Airport this month TRAVEL giant TUI plans to resume more flights from Bournemouth Airport this month.

Business Live

• Manchester Airport Group to cut 892 jobs, blames 'absence of dedicated support'Some 465 jobs at Manchester Airport, 376 roles at London Stansted and 51 positions at East Midlands are under threat

Christian Wolmar

• Who is going to save the railways?An emergency situation requires an emergency response. So far we have seen little sign of it. Passengers numbers remain at a fraction of 2019 levels and despite the change in messaging from ‘don’t use the railways’ to ‘use them if you are careful’, they are likely to remain depressed for many years to come.

New Civil Engineer

• Operator told to improve depot safety after driver killed between two trains West Midlands Trains has been told that it must review and improve its safety measures after a train driver was killed at the Tyseley depot after becoming trapped between two trains.
• HS2 | Manchester station alterations tabled in revamped plan for the NorthDesign changes to High Speed 2’s (HS2) proposed stations at Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly have been revealed as part of a revised plan for the northern section of the route.
• Heathrow claims Paris Agreement could not be applied to expansion planFormer transport secretary Chris Grayling was not obliged to take into account UK climate change commitments under the 2016 Paris Agreement when preparing the Airports National Policy Strategy (ANPS) for the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport, representatives of Heathrow Airports Ltd (HAL) have claimed.

Green Miscellany

• Walk to School Week is more important then everThe Walk to School Week event is close to our hearts. The first Walk to School week in 1995 involved five primary schools taking part in our very own Green Transport Week. Since then the initiative has grown and is more important than ever; a generation ago, 70% of us walked to school – now it’s less than half. Now… The post Walk to School Week is more important then ever appeared first on ETA.

Other News Sources

• £12m project to bring disused railway tunnel back into use is on trackWork is ongoing on a £12 million project to convert a disused railway tunnel into a state-of-the-art vehicle testing facility.
• A level crossing: should Scotland be on the HS2 railway line?An influential group is calling for Scotland to be included in the route for the UK’s High Speed 2 line if the government wishes to meet its recent pledges to “level up” the region. Greengauge 21 CEO Jim Steer explains why this is important and what needs to be done to achieve it.