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

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

BBC News

• All hospital car parking charges in Scotland to be scrappedThe Scottish government has struck deals worth £35m to buy out the car parks at Ninewells Hospital and Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

ITV News

• Campaigners raise £60,000 to support judicial review into Southampton Airport runway expansionMore than £60,000 has been raised towards the cost of pursuing a judicial review into the decision to approve controversial plans to expand the runway at Southampton Airport.

Financial Times

• Virgin Orbit brings Boeing on board for $3.2bn Spac dealRichard Branson’s reusable launch venture is aiming for Nasdaq listing
• UK truck driver shortage signals a broken labour marketEmpty shelves in supermarkets are a message from a workforce that is usually invisible

The Guardian

• Flagship £1.2bn upgrade to East Coast rail service delayed until 2023Faster trains and extra seats that had been promised for the London-Edinburgh East Coast line in a flagship £1.2bn upgrade will be delayed for at least a year.

Times Online

• Parking now rivals tax as councils’ big earner [subscription]Local authorities in parts of England are bringing in so much money from car parking that it matches three quarters of their council tax income.
• EasyJet summons crisis manager Hester for blue-sky thinking [subscription]Stephen Hester gained a reputation at RBS and RSA for rescuing troubled companies

The National

• Greens 'will use co-operation deal to transform Scottish transport system'SCOTLAND’S transport network will be “transformed” by an SNP-Green co-operation government if the agreement passes a vote of Green members, Patrick Harvie has said.

Birmingham Post

• Bibby Line Group hails 'substantial improvement' after making moves to be more 'profitable and agile' in the futureThe firm traces its history to 1807 and is best known for its shipping activities
• German flights could provide boost to North East businesses, airline saysLufthansa has started daily flights from Newcastle International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany's commercial hub

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• 'Cheaper alternative' to Leeds leg of HS2 could be found - according to transport expertA LEADING transport academic has claimed cheaper alternatives to HS2 could be used if the Government decides to pull the plug on the Leeds leg of the multi-billion pound high speed rail scheme

London Evening Standard

• Elizabeth Line ‘very much on target’ for early 2022 opening, says Crossrail CEOhe central section of Crossrail is “very much on target” to open in the first half of 2022 according to Crossrail’s chief executive.

Sheffield Star

• Sheffield transport chief believes eastern leg of HS2 will be scrapped to save cash post CovidA Sheffield transport chief believes the eastern leg of HS2 will fall victim to government cuts after Covid spending blew a hole in the nation's finances.

Wales Online

• Taxi prices increase in Newport due to 'grave shortage' of driversIt comes after many in the area reported struggling to book a taxi in recent weeks

Other Regional Press

• Southern ranked one of worst train companies in UK says Which?A STUDY carried out by Which? has revealed the best and worst train companies in the country according to commuters and other travellers.
• M62 junction 'can not cope with massive new distribution centre'Lib dem councillor says the 24/7 facility linked to Amazon will also leave local roads clogged
• Region's railways are rising stars in Hollywood productionsNorfolk has always been a popular filming destination but our region’s trains and stations in particular have been catching the interest of Hollywood producers. 
• First class service reintroduced on Scotrail city trainsFollowing the easing of physical distancing restrictions on Monday, August 9, first class has been brought back on its Inter7City high-speed trains and Class 385 Express services from today.
• The UK’s 3 Busiest Airports Are Europe’s Worst Affected By COVIDThe British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has analyzed the latest Eurocontrol statistics on aviation and has found that three of the UK’s airports are the worst affected in Europe as a result of COVID. BALPA cites ongoing restrictions as the catalyst for this impact, and warns that more job losses could still be to come.

Train Operators

• Virgin Orbit set for Spac and beyond with blank-cheque mergerSir Richard Branson is preparing to list another pillar of his business empire on the stock market after signing off on Virgin Orbit’s $3.2 billion blank-cheque merger in New York.

New Civil Engineer

• Summer slump as civil engineering activity slows in JulyThe start of works at the £3bn Sofia Wind Farm was not enough to stem a fall in the value of civil engineering projects for the three months to the end of July, latest analysis by Glenigan has found.
• Hammersmith Bridge | DfT incorrectly labels Motts’ stabilisation plan as ‘incomplete’ A senior Department for Transport (DfT) official has incorrectly labelled Mott MacDonald’s stabilisation plan for Hammersmith Bridge as “incomplete”.
• Cutting HS2’s ‘transformational’ eastern leg dubbed ‘absurd’ by rail expertsAxing the “transformational” eastern leg of High Speed 2 (HS2) Phase 2b will cause the eastern side of the country to “suffer” according to a senior HS2 insider.

Railnews

• Concern grows about HS2 eastern leg Another leak has raised concern still further that the eastern leg of HS2 is unlikely to be built in the foreseeable future. Although the western leg between London and Manchester is progressing, with construction underway on Phase 1 to Birmingham, the government has been declining to make any commitment to Phase 2b to the East Midlands and Yorkshire, saying only that the Department for Transport's Integrated Rail Plan, which is running very late, will clarify the situation. The latest leak has been published by the Sunday Mirror, which quoted an unnamed source as saying that 'there’s no way ...

Other News Sources

• Stagecoach calls for transport policy overhaul as part of carbon-neutral roadmapTransport group Stagecoach has unveiled a new roadmap to becoming a carbon-neutral business by 2050, while also calling for the UK Government to fix "contradictory policies" associated with the transport sector and the need to reach net-zero emissions.
• New report shows an increasingly robotic future for airportsAccording to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future (MRFR) the airport robot market is predicted to grow substantially between 2021 to 2027, at a compound annual growth rate of 16.8 per cent.
• £5 fares to encourage passengers back on board following the pandemicA whopping 200,000 bargain fares are being made available by LNER - London North Eastern Railway - for as little as £5.
• Arun Valley line reopens after nine day closure for £22m upgradeMore than 40 miles of railways has reopened today after being closed for nine days.
• See how Virgin Hyperloop's speedy pod-slinging tube will transport youHyperloop, the futuristic bullet-train-in-a-tube concept originally conceived by Elon Musk, has had a makeover courtesy of Virgin Hyperloop. The company released the below concept video on Monday laying out its updated vision of electromagnetically propelled passenger pods whipping riders between cities at jet plane speeds.