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

Thursday, 13 May 2021

BBC News

• Heathrow Airport could divert aircraft to ease crowdingContingency plans are being made to divert passengers to other UK airports or EU hubs due to border queues.
• HS2 high-speed rail project begins underground tunnelAt 170m long,

Department for Transport

• Transport update: proposed alteration and upgrading by Highways England of the existing M25 Junction 10 RoundaboutI have been asked by my Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State, to make this Written Ministerial Statement. This Statement concerns the application made under the Planning Act 2008 for the proposed alteration and upgrading by Highways England of the existing M25 Junction 10 Roundabout.

Financial Times

• Air France and Airbus to stand trial over 2009 crashFrench appeals court overturns previous decision not to press charges over incident that killed 228 people in 2009
• FirstGroup's biggest shareholder attacks company for bungling US saleCoast Capital said transport operator's deal undervalued bus business and stinks to the heavens

The Telegraph

• Train bosses poised to bring back British Rail-era InterCity 125 carriages after mass cancellations [subscription]Cost to taxpayers to keep services running during Covid has ballooned to £11bn, Government figures reveal

Times Online

• Boris Johnson has ’one shot’ to refloat shipbuilding industry [subscription]If Boris Johnson wants to make the UK a “green shipbuilding superpower” , as he promises, he has some “tough decisions to take”.
• Swindling railcard users is no way to win back passengers - Christian Wolmar [subscription]ast week, buying a ticket for my first rail journey in six months, I said to the kindly ticket clerk, “I presume that my senior railcard will have been extended since I have been barred from using the railway since December?” The poor woman almost blushed: “I’m afraid not. You will have to buy a new one. You are not the first — and you should complain.”
• Why I broke the Heathrow embargo [subscription]hree Supreme Court judges found me guilty of contempt of court for breaching the embargo on the Heathrow expansion judgment. They fined me £5,000 and made a costs order against me. Was it worth it? At least as I see it, it was one of the best investments of £5,000 a father could make.

City AM

• Electric scooter startup Bird to go public in £1.6bn SPAC dealBird Rides announced a merger with Switchback II Corp, a blank-cheque company, to go public in a deal that values The post Electric scooter startup Bird to go public in £1.6bn SPAC deal appeared first on CityAM.

Daily Record

• North Ayrshire transport: New train stations, railway lines and A78/A737 upgrades proposed under 20-year planNew rail stations at Drybridge, Ardrossan North and Largs Marina are just three proposals included among long-term transport plans for North Ayrshire.

London Evening Standard

• Stop bickering and sort out London’s transport, say business leaders to Sadiq Khan and Grant ShappsLondon business leaders today called on Sadiq Khan and Grant Shapps to stop bickering and sort out the crisis facing the capital’s transport system.
• Heathrow Airport could divert planes to other UK or EU airports to deal with border queuesHeathrow Airport could divert planes to other UK or European airports if border queues become too long.

Manchester Evening News

• Is this the end of the Magic Bus? What Andy Burnham's franchising pledge could mean for iconic serviceA new 'London-style' transport network could signal the end of the trusty Magic Bus branding

The York Press

• 'York Central can go ahead without Leeman Road closure' - councillors hit backCOUNCILLORS have hit back at claims that funding and planning permissions for York Central would be put at risk if the closure of Leeman Road did not go ahead.
• 'We need to reduce traffic in York' - Bootham junction plans on hold PLANS to upgrade traffic lights and signals at the junction at Bootham, Gillygate and St Leonard's Place have been delayed - with a senior councillor saying there is a
• Plans for new ticketing to make York bus travel easier and cheaperCOUNCIL chiefs are set to reveal how they hope to

Wales Online

• Airport boss demands quarantine curbs are relaxed to aid business travelLondon City Airport chief said lack of business trips during the pandemic had driven a collapse in passenger numbers
• Electric Nextbikes coming to Dinas Powys later this summerThe bike-sharing scheme was introduced in Penarth last November but is now expanding

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Car journeys on West Midlands's roads fall by a quarter during pandemicThe number of miles covered by cars in the West Midlands plummeted by nearly a quarter last year with travel impacted by the coronavirus lockdown, figures show.

Bucks Free Press

• HS2 launches first giant tunnelling machine in Bucks HS2 have launched its first giant tunnelling machine today starting from a site in Buckinghamshire near the M25 motorway.

Other Regional Press

• Poverty and bad transport hitting Yorkshire hardBoth unions and a Tory think-thank have issued warnings about the region

Bikebiz

• New research project launched to address transport-related barriers faced by young peopleSustrans has teamed up with the University of the West of England to launch a new research project that aims to address transport-related barriers faced by people aged 12-24 years in the UK.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Greater Manchester mayor accelerates franchise bus network planThe mayor of Greater Manchester has said he will accelerate plans to bring the region's bus network back under public control. Andy Burnham, who was re-elected on Saturday, said he would bring forward the introduction of a London-style franchise system by a year to May 2024. He urged bus companies
• High demand sees Teesport Bulks Terminal sign third major deal in eight monthsPD Ports, owner and operator of Teesport, has secured a third long-term deal at its recently unveiled state-of-the-art bulks facility, accelerating future expansion plans due to demand from global manufacturers and shippers.  The UK major ports group signed a long-term contract with a third global customer to secure the remaining bays inside the 300,000 sq.ft. Teesport Bulks Terminal based on the port estate.  Opened during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the £9.2 million investment by PD Ports to renovate and refurbish the former Steel Export Terminal in to the modernised...
• New leadership at BRTuk relish challenge of Bus Back BetterJames Freeman, recently retired from his full-time role at First West of England, is taking over from Alan Bailes as Chair of Bus Rapid Transit UK (known as BRTuk), a membership organisation seeking to promote the use of high-quality buses with high levels of priority on the street and ideally segregated rights of way. A very practical and cost-effective way of providing top league rapid transit quickly and cost-effectively by combining the bus’s flexibility with routes designed for rapid journeys. Also stepping forward at this time is BRTuk’s new Deputy Chair, Patrick Warner, who ...

New Civil Engineer

• Revealed: TfL has already spent £56M on Silvertown TunnelTransport for London (TfL) has already spent £56M on the controversial Silverton Tunnel project, it can be revealed.
• Network Rail ramps up work to make stations more inclusiveNetwork Rail has ramped up work on its Access for All programme – part of the government’s Inclusive Transport Strategy – through the use of digital twin technology.

Other News Sources

• Japan could be getting a new public transport system using ropeways by 2025The zip-line capsule cars run by Zip Infrastructure Inc are currently being tested in Kanagawa prefecture
• New project aims to tackle transport-related exclusionSustrans has teamed up with the University of West England to address transport-related barriers faced by young people in the UK. 
• Imperial College London to run mobility hub trialThe new project will enable staff at Imperial College’s South Kensington campus to rent two alternative powered cars, as well as folding bikes and electric bikes.
• Hull IoT firm installs new transport screens in home city New digital screens in Hull’s Paragon Interchange are now live following a period of testing.
• Decarbonising UK transport: Finding innovative and practical financial solutions togetherMore than £150bn of gross capital investment needs unlocking to decarbonise the UK road transport in the 2020s, explains the Green Finance Institute's Lauren Pamma
• York's transport future revealed - and we're all on electric buses, bikes and scootersWe'll live in the city centre and may never learn to drive a car
• GM Mayor vows to accelerate plans for London-style transport networkNewly re-elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has put a transport revolution across the region at the centre of plans for his second term.
• Businesses cannot ’thrive’ without face-to-face meetings – airport bossBusiness travel will recover from the coronavirus pandemic as companies relying on virtual meetings cannot “thrive”, according to the boss of London City Airport.