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

Thursday, 04 February 2021

BBC News

• Crossrail: 'Forensic focus' needed to deliver project on timeA "Sherlock-style forensic focus" is needed to finish Crossrail on time and within budget, an inquiry has found.
• Is high-speed rail travel on a track to nowhere?It was supposed to be a slick, gleaming piece of transport infrastructure that could shuttle passengers from Singapore to Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur in 90 minutes.
• Covid in Scotland: Airports 'have no idea' how quarantine rules will workGlasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh airports say they have not been involved in discussions on new restrictions on travellers.

The Guardian

• Make oil firms install electric car chargers in petrol stations, says thinktankOil companies should be required to install rapid chargers for electric cars in all their petrol stations above a certain size by 2023 in order to speed up the rollout of vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions, according to thinktank Bright Blue.

The Telegraph

• Highways England’s smart motorways rollout 'entirely wrong' and drivers don’t know how to use them [subscription]Grant Shapps surprised to learn technology not in place to spot stranded motorists in live lanes
• Ryanair plans to axe domestic routes [subscription]Ryanair will only operate out of London Stansted airport and will cull 13 routes to Morocco, Ukraine, Montenegro, and Norway
• Infrastructure projects keep builders busy [subscription]Building railways, widening roads, extending broadband, erecting nuclear power stations and wind farms and modernising power networks and water mains is keeping the construction industry going as it suffers a lack of investment on the high street and in city centres.

Times Online

• Glasgow put on fast track for metro rail makeover [subscription]Plans for a citywide metro system to transform transport in Glasgow have been given priority status by ministers.
• X-shaped HS2 plan will link cities in southwest [subscription]HS2 trains should operate to the southwest of England with the development of a high-speed network shaped like an X, according to a report.
• Grant Shapps ridicules smart motorways [subscription]The transport secretary said that smart motorways were a misnomer yesterday as he promised to speed up the installation of vital new safety equipment.

City AM

• Grant Shapps: Sadiq Khan cannot 'raid national budget' to fix TfL financesGrant Shapps has this morning said that Sadiq Khan cannot “just raid the national budget” to fix Transport for London’s ailing finances.
• Eurostar is ‘not our company to rescue’, says Grant ShappsThe transport secretary has poured cold water on hopes that the UK would lead the rescue of the struggling Eurostar rail link.

Mail Online

• Smart motorways are NOT such a clever idea but we are stuck with them, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitsGrant Shapps has ruled out scrapping so-called 'smart motorways', while admitting their name was a 'misnomer'.

The Mirror

• Ministers urged to consider requiring medical-grade masks in on public transportLabour's Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth wrote to the Health Secretary, calling for a review of face mask guidance to offer greater protection to the wearer in the light of new variants of Covid-19

Birmingham Mail

• Passengers dressed in full forensic suits seen leaving airport It's understood 2,000 passengers are still flying in and out of Manchester Airport

Birmingham Post

• Siemens exec who helped seal Hull blade factory deal becomes trade body CEORenewable UK welcomes Dan McGrail to top role as green industrial revolution continues at increasing pace
• 'Half-job' criticised seven years on from the Dawlish rail disasterPlans to protect the vulnerable stretch of coastal rail line are underway but saving the route from cliff falls remains up in the air
• Rolls-Royce tests sustainable aviation fuel in jet engineTests were carried out in Dahlewitz, Germany, on the Pearl 700 – the latest business aviation engine in development

Bolton News

• Bus service cancelled after youths throw brick through windowA bus service has had to be cancelled due to a brick being thrown through a window.

Holyrood

• New Glasgow Metro system can be a 'game-changer' for the cityPlans for a Glasgow Metro – a new mass transit system – have been set out as part of a 20-year transport vision.

London Evening Standard

• Transport for London boss calls for staff jab priority as 69 die from CovidThe number of London transport workers to die with Covid-19 is approaching 70, it has revealed today.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says decision on eastern leg of HS2 will be announced soonTransport Secretary Grant Shapps has revealed his 16-year-old son is considering taking an apprenticeship helping to build the HS2 high speed rail line.

Kent Online

• Transport secretary Grant Shapps says Brexit border traffic chaos fears proved unfoundedThe transport minister says fears of disruption and delays around the Channel ports because of Brexit have proved unfounded.

Other Regional Press

• Helensburgh ferry and Faslane railway station mooted by Transport ScotlandA ferry linking Helensburgh with Gourock and a railway station at Faslane are among options being considered by Transport Scotland, new documents have revealed.
• Plans to modernise Torquay's Victorian railway stationNetwork Rail says access problems means it fails to comply with the law on equality

New Civil Engineer

• Rail design must put the user firstNetwork Rail’s Delivery Plan for Control Period 6 (CP6), which started in 2019, offers a refocus on its strategic objective. The rail network operator has said that “for too long we have been introspective and focused on engineering excellence, rather than on the service that we provide”.
• Crossrail | Optimism bias, lack of specialist engineers and inadequate management threaten project deliveryThe London Assembly’s transport committee has called for a “Sherlock style forensic focus” to ensure Crossrail meets its revised 2022 opening date.

Railway Gazette

• Railway automation technology company attracts investorsGERMANY: München-based transport AI company Konux has secured financing to support the further development of software-as-a-service products which use internet-of-things and machine learning to automate railway operating, monitoring and maintenance processes. It has also announced the appointment of former Vossloh and Siemens rail automation division CEO Andreas Busemann to the ...
• Franchise termination negotiations run on past deadlineUK: Negotiations over the termination of passenger franchise contracts are proving difficult, with some payments yet to be agreed and direct awards still being discussed.

Transport Network

• Shapps admits error over smart motorway safetyThe transport secretary has admitted that it was ‘entirely wrong’ to roll out all lane running ‘smart motorways’ without the stopped vehicle detection (SVD) technology that would justify the name.
• £250m Hereford road schemes dumped by ZoomHerefordshire County Council has scrapped plans for two major roadbuilding schemes near the city of Hereford, citing the climate emergency and the need to decarbonise transport.

Aviation Industry

• Government Transport Decarbonisation Plan must provide clear pathway to net zero aviationThe Transport Decarbonisation Plan, due to be published this year, must, our briefing states, provide a clear pathway to net zero for the entire transport sector, including aviation, and commit …

Other News Sources

• Scottish transport projects to accelerate economic recoveryThe Scottish Government has announced on Wednesday the way it will invest in transport projects in the next two to three years.

News from Europe

• World’s longest undersea rail tunnel could become realityHaving appeared to suffer a sudden death in 2020 due to concerns over Chinese finance, the world’s longest undersea rail tunnel planned to link Helsinki, Finland, with Tallinn, Estonia appears to be back on track.