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

Monday, 09 August 2021

BBC News

• Drivers in Scotland warned due to more downpours and floodsA yellow warning remains in place after torrential rain closed railway lines and flooded streets on Saturday.
• Branson's Virgin Atlantic considers stock market listingThe move could see Sir Richard Branson lose overall control of the airline he founded.

Financial Times

• Coronavirus latest: US judge backs Norwegian Cruise Line on Florida vaccine passports
• Virgin Atlantic plans London stock market listingBranson airline may tap investors this autumn as recovery in business and holiday travel gathers momentum

The Guardian

• Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic plans stock market listingMove is airline's attempt to shore up balance sheet after £659m loss due to Covid pandemic. The British airline Virgin Atlantic is considering raising funds on the London Stock Exchange in an attempt to shore up its balance sheet.

The Scotsman

• Covering M8 motorway included in £30 billion plan to make Glasgow 'greener'Multi-billion proposals, including covering over a section of the M8 motorway, will address Glasgow’s underlying problems with poverty and inequality and make the city environmentally-friendly.

Times Online

• Fears over Chinese spying lead to calls for UK ban on DiDi Global ride-hailing app [subscription]MPs are calling for a ride-hailing app based in Beijing to be blocked from launching in Britain amid concerns that users’ data will be harvested by Chinese spies.

Mail Online

• Local bridleways could start to vanish in five years unless they are officially registeredThe British Horse Society (BHS) is urging volunteers to report local routes to their councils so they can be officially registered - protecting the right to ride on them.
• 'Rip-off' Covid tests for tourists spark probe by watchdogFamilies face paying hundreds of pounds extra to travel abroad this summer, and the Daily Mail has championed calls for the Government to drive down costs.

Birmingham Mail

• Broad Street's new high kerbs for trams could be 'hazardous for drinkers' The pavements have been widened on Broad Street ready for tram services to serve the entertainment district later this year but a shared space coordinator warns that the kerbs at four stops are more than twice the standard depth

Birmingham Post

• Five projects in £200million South West road improvement plansHighways England is planning a £200 million package of improvements across the South West over the next few months.
• Pandemic rocks travel service provider's finances as it's forced to cut jobsTravel Counsellors is owned by European private equity firm Vitruvian Partners

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• £500,000 upgrade for railway line between Walsall and CannockThe railway line between Walsall and Cannock is being upgraded as part of a £500,000 investment to help create smoother journeys for passengers.

Other Regional Press

• Mayors will only accept ’substandard’ rail timetable changes if long-term upgrades are forthcomingNorthern mayors have warned the government that they will only accept reduced train services through Greater Manchester if long-awaited rail infrastructure upgrades are delivered.
• Christine Grahame MSP hails free bus travel for under 22sLocal MSP Christine Grahame has welcomed news that all residents in Scotland under the age of 22 will be eligible for free bus travel from 31 January 2022 after The Scottish Government confirmed the timetable for the roll out of the scheme, delivered in partnership with the Improvement Service, the National Entitlement Card Programme Office and Young Scot.
• Network Rail to carry out improvement works across the north westImprovement works are being carried out on railway lines across the north west.
• Good to go - Swift travel card adapts to hybrid working post pandemicTHE increasing number of part-time commuters or people working flexibly following the pandemic has brought a change to the Swift travel card.
• Ryde doesn't need this dangerous seafront schemeDespite its apparent commitment to encouraging the creation of beautiful places, and at a time when local mental health services are in crisis due to underfunding, the government, through its Department for Transport, looks set to provide millions of pounds for a "regeneration" scheme that will not only cause great damage to Ryde's historic seafront on the Isle of Wight, including a Conservation Area and many listed buildings, but which may also see more danger to pedestrians and an increase in vehicular congestion and pollution.

Business Live

• Nottingham e-bike company WAU opens new factory with dream of growing workforce to 400Co-founder Linas Pozerskis: 'Our plans include growing our workforce to 200-400 employees and creating a giga site'

New Civil Engineer

• Network Rail completes Highland landslip stabilisation schemeNetwork Rail has completed a two-week operation to stabilise and protect a rail embankment on the Highland main line following a landslip in third-party owned land last month.
• Infrastructure focus for new £5M climate resilience research fundThe government has announced £5M or research funding to step up the UK’s infrastructure resilience to the impacts of climate change including flooding, heatwaves and extreme weather.
• Track replacement improves Waterloo to Portsmouth rail lineNetwork Rail is set to complete three days of track alignment and point improvement works on the main line between Waterloo and Portsmouth later today.
• Technology disconnect must be tackled on architecture and engineering projectsThree pillars that are essential for engineering companies to build a resilient future as they emerge from the pandemic were put forward by the Royal Academy of Engineering in its Covid 19: Engineering a resilient future paper last year. The three were accelerated digitalisation; skills and education; and rapid innovation and scale-up of technologies – these are still true more than 12 months on.
• Integrated Rail Plan could be published with autumn Spending ReviewThe government's long-awaited Integrated Rail Plan may be published as part of chancellor Rishi Sunak's autumn Spending Review.

The Business Desk

• £82m redevelopment of railway station takes step forwardCoventry’s heritage and its future will be reflected in new public art which is set to be unveiled as part of the £82m redevelopment of Coventry Station.

Other News Sources

• The lost London bus routes into the countryside that have vanished over the yearsLondon has a very porous boundary - it doesn't quite follow the M25, isn't entirely the shape of Zone 6 and you can often find one side of a road is in London and the other side is not.
• Plans for First Bus information kiosk on Weymouth Esplanade withdrawnPROPOSALS for a new bus information kiosk on Weymouth Esplanade have been scrapped.
• London’s ’red route’ roads are now almost as busy as before the pandemicFigures from Transport for London indicate a rise in car use since early spring