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

Friday, 22 October 2021

BBC News

• Bristol transport: Marvin Rees to consult on Park Street closureClosing a major road to cars and offering free electric bike loans are among proposals for the future of Bristol's transport, its mayor said.
• Levelling up: What does it mean for people in Yorkshire?...We suspect that there won't be any news on the HS2 or Northern Powerhouse Rail infrastructure upgrades in the upcoming Budget. Leaders here have been waiting for the Integrated Rail Review for months with the prevailing wisdom being that the Eastern leg of HS2 to Sheffield and Leeds may now not happen.
• New London to Edinburgh rail service beginsThe train company Lumo wants to encourage greener and more affordable travel between the capitals.

Financial Times

• Greyhound acquired by fast-growing German start-upFlixMobility agrees deal with FirstGroup as it seeks to be America’s number one coach travel provider

The Guardian

• FirstGroup announces £125m sale of its Greyhound bus service in the USChairman David Martin said the company was now concentrating on becoming a UK-focused operation
• ’It seems impenetrable’: the trials of HGV trainingThree HGV trainees relate the early barriers they’ve found on the road to a potential career change

The Telegraph

• Rising fuel costs and labour shortages could trigger the end of cheap travel [subscription]As Heathrow is given permission to raise its fees for departing passengers, we start to feel the impact of the industry's financial squeeze

Times Online

• FirstGroup’s American dream is over as it sells off Greyhound buses [subscription]FlixMobility has bought Greyhound with immediate effect at an enterprise value of about $46 million. The sale draws to a close First’s two-decade stint in the US, after it sold its school bus division to EQT Infrastructure, a private equity group, for £3.3 billion this year.
• Lumo, the Ryanair of rail, gets the green light on east coast [subscription]benefits other than increasing rail competition. It was about “modal shift” in the transport industry: getting travellers off the London-Edinburgh air route, persuading motorists out of their cars and offering a value-for-money alternative to a budget eight to ten-hour coach journey.

City AM

• UK export sales stall amid global shipping crisisUK export sales are stalling amid the global shipping industry snarling up due to soaring container prices. Around a third The post UK export sales stall amid global shipping crisis appeared first on CityAM.

Birmingham Mail

• Integrated Rail Plan revealing decisions for Midlands and North to be published mid-NovemberA plan setting out Government decisions about HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail had been expected next week, but publication has been pushed back

Birmingham Post

• FirstGroup's Lumo trains launch, connecting North East, London and EdinburghThe entire fleet of 100% electric trains were manufactured by Hitachi Rail in the North East
• Shortlist announced for £500m HS2 contractThe major contract will see the winner lead the design and delivery of the 36-mile Phase 2a route

Sheffield Star

• Electric car charging on the street is difficult, says Sheffield Council transport chiefCharging an electric car on Sheffield’s tightly-packed terraced streets isn’t easy, admits the council’s transport chief.

Wales Online

• Artwork costing £156,000 to be placed along Swansea's cycle networkCabinet member Mark Thomas said the sum couldn't be allocated anywhere else, but it has been branded 'scandalous' by one councillor

Yorkshire Evening Post

• New Leeds transport strategy slammed as 'unrealistic' by council oppositionSenior politicians have hit out at Leeds City Council’s new transport strategy, claiming it is “unrealistic” to deliver it in time.

Cambridge News

• Mill Road traders want fewer cars again after council reversed controversial traffic banSome traders have voiced concerns over safety following the increase of vehicles on the road after the bridge reopened.

Other Regional Press

• Go Borders app: New public transport service will target remote areasA NEW service has been launched to allow those living in remote Borders communities “increased and more convenient” access to public transport.
• Council's 'red bus' fleet could be used to fill gaps in traditional public transportTelford and Wrekin Council aims to publish its local Bus Service Improvement Plan by the end of this month, detailing how it will use its powers to improve services.
• Thanet: New independent report concludes there is no need for Manston AirportThe Secretary of State for Transport has to re-make his decision into whether to reopen the airport after an appeal from Ramsgate resident Jenny Dawes quashed his previous permission
• New regulations to limit number of taxis in Weymouth and PortlandHACKNEY Carriage licences in Weymouth and Portland are likely to be limited to 80 vehicles over the next three years.
• Major upgrade work on land surrounding Weymouth Train Station to start next monthWORK on the £1million revamp of Weymouth rail station will begin in November, it has been announced - forcing the move of the town's Covid testing site to allow it to proceed.

Business Live

• Transport system holding back Northern economy, businesses sayBusinesses have told the Transport for the North group that congestion and problems with public transport are holding back the region's development

Coach and Bus Week

• Wrightbus ’honoured’ to showcase to the worldHydroliner exhibited at Global Investment Summit hosted by the Prime Minister prior to commencing UK Hydrogen Roadshow tour
• ’Road to Renewables’ tour commencesTransport Minister Trudy Harrison MP has lent her support to an electric bus tour from London to Glasgow to celebrate low carbon energy and transport projects.

New Civil Engineer

• Work begins on Inverness Airport stationWork is now underway to create the new Inverness Airport station with the start of construction of the platforms at Dalcross.
• DfT’s £9bn Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline now more than a year overdueThis week marks two years since the Department for Transport (DfT) last released the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP), despite pledging to update it annually.
• Government buries aviation study calling for climate-driven restrictionsA government-commissioned report that recommended climate-driven restrictions on airport expansions has been removed from the government's online library the day after it was uploaded.
• The £30bn levelling up prize: Cities like Bradford have potential to drive economic growthResearch shows that economic underperformance of UK’s cities is the single biggest barrier to levelling up.

Railnews

• FirstGroup's new open access services unveiled THURSDAY BRIEFING: FirstGroup claims promising start for Lumo ++

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• FirstGroup sells Greyhound to FlixBus parent FlixMobilityFirstGroup has completed its exit from the North American passenger transport market with the sale of the Greyhound business to FlixMobility, parent of the FlixBus brand. 
• Call to accelerate 4,000 zero-emission bus rollout in EnglandBus manufacturers Alexander Dennis, Switch Mobility and Wrightbus joined forces with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Bus and Coach Industry to call on the government to accelerate its promise to help to deliver 4,000 further zero-emission buses in England. The work saw each OEM park such a vehicle in Westminster on Wednesday 20 October to highlight to ministers that earlier commitment.
• Stagecoach settles more pay deals as Wales ACAS talks restartTwo more Stagecoach subsidiaries have settled disputes with Unite over drivers’ pay, but further talks between the group’s South Wales operating company and the union involving ACAS were scheduled for Thursday 21 October in a bid to find a solution to a stalemate that saw strike action at three depots two days earlier. 
• White Paper: The challenges of electrifying your bus garage or depot and how ESP can helpThe challenges of electrifying your bus garage or depot and how ESP can help.

Other News Sources

• Update issued by transport minister on HS2Transport minister Andrew Stephenson reports that HS2 remains 'within budget and schedule’ in an update on the infrastructure project.
• High Court dismisses two legal challenges to Southampton airport runway extensionA stumbling block in the way of Southampton Airport's controversial runway extension plan has been removed after bids by objectors to progress two legal challenges to the project were both rejected by the High Court.
• Airport hoping for busiest weekend in months after uplift in demandMore than 24,000 passengers are expected to pass through East Midlands Airport in the coming days, which is approximately half of pre-pandemic numbers
• Threadneedle plots Manchester Airport shedsThe investor and asset manager wants to knock down the former SkyChefs production facility and build three units totalling 85,000 sq ft on a five-acre site on the corner of Avro Way and Pinfold Lane within the World Freight Terminal. 
• OPINION: See a ’Flythrough video’ of Harrogate Gateway plans - Coun Don MackenzieNorth Yorkshire County Council (NYCC), in partnership with West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and Craven, Harrogate and Selby councils, secured a total of £42m from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund to upgrade the transport gateways in Skipton, Harrogate and Selby.
• Welsh Government give £1bn Metro plan update – £50m so far for North Wales is a ’kick in the teeth’Labour ministers have been accused of “neglecting and ignoring” North Wales with their plans for the Metro by the Welsh Conservatives, however the reason given for the large differential is that the South Wales projects are at a far more advanced stage than local plans.
• MS calls for 'urgency' over North Wales Metro after £1billion committed for South WalesMSs have hit out after plans for the North Wales Metro are lagging behind proposals in South Wales.