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

Friday, 04 March 2022

BBC News

• Tube Strike: London Underground disruption continues after second walkouts endsMost London Underground lines remain suspended or part suspended after a 24-hour walkout ended.

Financial Times

• Japanese airlines cancel flights to Europe as disruption growsCountry’s two biggest carriers reroute because of worries about flying over Russia

The Guardian

• Tube staff and lecturers are showing how to stage a strike in the 21st-century | Zoe WilliamsJust because we live in a post-industrial era doesn’t mean industrial action has suddenly become obsoleteThis week the tube workers went on strike, and the Telegraph called them “the enemy underground” and complained that “Putin apologists” had “brought London to a standstill”. It was the silliness, more than the vulgar opportunism, that caught the eye.The tube was actually down because of a row over pensions and staffing levels. Two weeks ago, university lecturers were striking on the same principle, though more recently their actions have also been centred on the whole spectrum of declining ...

The Telegraph

• Downing Street blasts Tube strikes for bringing 'misery' to commuters

Times Online

• New push for driverless Tube trains [subscription]As part of a funding agreement before that, the government also asked TfL to revisit a 2020 feasibility study into the concept, which estimated it would cost about £10 billion.

Birmingham Mail

• TUI ramps up Birmingham Airport flights to six summer holiday hotspotsThe airline has increased the number of flights from Birmingham Airport to its most popular summer destinations

Birmingham Post

• Midlands councils demand compensation after government tears up HS2 plansLeaders from across the region have now called for financial support from government and last year's downgrade to be reversed

London Evening Standard

• London Tube strike: TfL ’told to embrace driverless trains for long-term funding deal’fL has been told it must embrace driverless trains as a condition for its long-term funding, according to reports.

Northern Echo

• Are we at last on track to celebrate our railway heritage?Today we report how the first sod has been cut for Darlington’s £35m Railway Heritage Quarter, and we tell how the final pieces of land have been compulsorily acquired for the £25m revamp of Darlington’s Bank Top station, plus we know that the plans have been submitted so that the National Railway Museum at Shildon can get the necessary permission for its £5.9m new building at the Locomotion museum.

Sheffield Star

• Sheffield buses: Campaigners to stage protest ahead of crucial bus franchising meetingBus campaigners will stage a protest in Sheffield on Friday ahead of a crucial franchising meeting that could see services brought under public control.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Spend bus gate cash on improving its signs, says transport spokeswomanCash generated by Union Street’s controversial bus gate should be used to improve the signage for it, according to the council’s transport spokeswoman.

Yorkshire Post

• Funding handed to Northern transport experts for major rail project reduced by £75mFunding handed to the region’s transport body to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail will be reduced by almost £75m next month, after it was stripped of control over the project.

Other Regional Press

• Politically Speaking with Jon Trickett MP: Serious lack of transport methods in our regionDecent, reliable and affordable transport is crucial for areas like ours
• Alexander Stafford Column: My campaign can help to create a unified transport strategy for our areaI have launched my campaign for the creation of Transport for South Yorkshire, a local government body responsible for co-ordinating South Yorkshire’s transport network and delivering a clear and unified regional transport strategy.
• Thickthorn project ignores buses, says criticPlans for a huge revamp of a roundabout on the edge of Norwich have been criticised for failing to do enough to improve bus travel. 
• Bus boost - but unclear how much Norfolk will get to protect servicesA £150m boost has helped allay fears bus operators could have been forced to consider service cuts - but it remains unclear how much will be heading to this region.
• 'Extend Cardigan town bus service to pick up school kids'A CARDIGAN town councillor believes a re-routing of an existing bus service to collect primary schoolchildren from the southern end of town would be the ’easiest solution’ to the current school transport headache.
• OPINION: Giving freebies can be good for business - Harrogate Bus CompanyGiving something away for free is not the initial reaction you may usually have to improve the fortunes of any organisation. However, we believe it is a worthwhile investment and a calculated risk when planned correctly and in an ideal setting.
• Berwick 'would have key role' in bid to restore old rail linksA campaign is underway that would help improve rail travel in north Northumberland by restoring old links between the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and the Borders Railway.
• Buses: Talks underway after Arriva makes changes to Watford routesTalks over retaining bus services are underway after Arriva announced it is making some major changes to some of its routes from mid-April.
• The three Yorkshire cities competing for the new Great British Railways HQDoncaster, York and Wakefield hope the headquarters will bring much needed jobs and investment into their cities
• Unusual Airbus Beluga makes emergency landing at Birmingham airportThe incident happened on Thursday afternoon (March 3)

Train Operators

• Milestone reached in creation of North Shields' new transport hubThe creation of a modern and convenient transport hub in North Shields has taken a major step forward. Set to bring public transport together into one central place and attract more people to the town centre, North Tyneside Council’s proposed transport hub will be located on the site of the former Co-op building on Bedford Street.

British Trams Online

• Trams to Wolverhampton Railway Station from July?After the Wolverhampton Railway Station West Midlands Metro extension missed its “end of 2021” opening date the question has been when may we start to see trams running on the new line? That now seems to have been answered with Transport for West Midlands planning on the first trams running on the extension by July 2022 – but only after further work takes place, with this due to get underway this month.

Bus and Coach Buyer

• Caledonian takes 22-plate TourismosPromptly for 22 registration plates on 1 March, Travel Caledonian has taken delivery of five new Mercedes-Benz Tourismos from EvoBus (UK). The 13.1m vehicles will support the return of Caledonian Leisure’s coach touring programme into Europe from 8 March. They offer comfortable travel in 53 reclining seats and provide customers with reassurance that the air delivered by the coaches’ air conditioning units has passed through EvoBus’ ActivFilter anti-viral protection process that is now standard across the Tourismo range.

Business Live

• Transport chief warns that help is needed for 'vital' buses and train servicesMartijn Gilbert, from Go North East, has warned that the sector will need financial support to help it recover from the long-term impacts of the pandemic

Coach and Bus Week

• Transport for London secures further Government fundingThe Government agreed on 25 February to a fourth extraordinary funding settlement for Transport for London (TfL) worth £200 million, allowing the capital’s transport network to continue to operate while representing value for money for all taxpayers. The settlement will run until 24 June, to support the network as it recovers from the pandemic and continues to work towards long-term financial sustainability.
• Adding UK valueJonathan Welch looks at the rise of Yutong in the UK and importer Pelican’s push to include more ’locally-built’ content
• Electricity networks collaborate to support decarbonisation of Scottish transportOperators will be supported in their transition to net zero by new guidance published by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), SP Energy Networks and EV fleet and battery storage specialist Zenobē. The companies have worked collaboratively through Scotland’s Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce to produce guidance on how fleet operators can switch to electric by making informed technology choices and working with their network operator.
• Oxford submits bid to deliver 159 electric busesA new fleet of electric buses could be on its way to Oxford after a bid for Government funding was submitted.

New Civil Engineer

• Network Rail reveals designs for long-awaited North East station upgradePlans have been submitted and the first images revealed for Network Rail’s long-awaited upgrade to Eaglescliffe station in the Tees Valley.
• HS2 changes construction delivery strategy to use more freight trainsA decision by HS2 Ltd to move more material by rail into construction sites near Aylesbury will take the equivalent of an extra 28,500 lorries off Buckinghamshire’s roads and save 9,680t of carbon emissions.
• Network Rail bosses concerned Great British Railways formation risks stretching resources too thinNetwork Rail is taking pro-active steps to ensure the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) does not distract from its "business as usual" work.

Rail Advent

• Major Midlands rail route sees track and drainage upgrades completedVital work to improve journeys for passengers and freight for a major route into Birmingham is now complete. The work was carried out from the 19th to the 27th of February and saw alterations made to track and lineside drainage as part of an ongoing long-term program of improvement for the network, including preparation for HS2.

Railnews

• Eurostar offers free travel to Ukrainian refugees THURSDAY BRIEFING: Eurostar offers free travel to Ukrainian refugees ++ More disruption in second Underground strike ++ More HS2 construction materials to be moved by rail ++

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• First Bus unveils £8.1m investment in new fleet for BradfordFirst West Yorkshire has unveiled the first three vehicles of a fleet of 39 new buses that have come as part of an £8.1m investment in Bradford.
• R & S Waterson’s goes contactless with TransMachIndependent family-run bus and coach operator, R & S Waterson’s, which has been serving the communities of South and West Yorkshire for almost 60 years, has become the latest provincial transport fleet to roll out a fully cashless ticketing system in partnership with cloud-based ticketing specialist, TransMach.
• Bus recovery funding in England gets six-month extensionThe Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that the bus industry in England will receive a further six months’ recovery funding beyond the planned end date for the Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) on 6 April.
• Coach hire rates ’have got to rise to sustain industry pressures’Rates for coach hire must increase regardless of resistance from customers if the industry is to successfully negotiate rising costs and pressures in other areas, an operator in Scotland has said.

Other News Sources

• First Bus to invest £35m in electric buses with ScotZEB fundingFirst Glasgow and First Aberdeen have been awarded a combined £18.6m in ScotZEB funding and will deliver 74 new electric vehicles across both cities. In addition, First Bus will invest a further £16.4m to further increase its zero-emission fleet.