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

Tuesday, 24 May 2022

Government

• Prime Minister hails infrastructure investment to unlock growth and boost jobsThe Prime Minister will rally Ministers behind the government’s multibillion drive to unlock economic growth and job creation through strong infrastructure and better transport links.

BBC News

• Crossrail: Elizabeth line finally opensBoris Johnson said: "As the Elizabeth line opens to the public, we know it's not just Londoners that will reap the rewards, but the whole country - because better transport grows the economy, levels up opportunity and creates jobs."
• Spaghetti Junction at 50: What lies beneath?Images capture life below one of the UK's best known road structures on eve of its 50th birthday.
• ScotRail and drivers' union return to pay talksHundreds of services were cut on Monday in a temporary timetable to cope with driver shortages.
• The changing face of the North Sea oil industrySome workers are still banking on a career in oil and gas, others are focusing on a greener future.

ITV News

• London’s Elizabeth Line 'a game changer' says transport chief as Crossrail finally opensLondon’s Elizabeth Line will be the ’most spectacular, most beautiful railway in the world’, according to the capital’s transport supremo.

Department for Transport

• Funding for transport projects to help tackle lonelinessPilot projects funded to explore how future transport schemes can contribute to reducing loneliness in communities.

The Guardian

• Elizabeth line: Crossrail complete after decades of struggle a photo essayAfter years of knockbacks and fights over funding, this amazing feat of engineering is ready to openTimeline: Elizabeth line is almost 50 years in the makingAlmost four decades elapsed between the first official proposals for an east-west Crossrail line under London, and the start of construction works for what would eventually become the Elizabeth line.

The Scotsman

• Transport minister accused of ’lying’ as unions urge Scottish Government to intervene in ScotRail impasseScotland’s transport minister has been accused of lying by a leading union, and told “the buck stops with her” when it comes to bring the growing pay dispute at ScotRail to an end.

The Telegraph

• A missed opportunity to break the rail unions' chokehold [subscription]Technological advances could have helped resolve the tension between falling commuter numbers and unreasonable union demands

Times Online

• Business leaders unite to demand Nicola Sturgeon resolves ScotRail row [subscription]Powerful business groups have united and urged Nicola Sturgeon to resolve the pay dispute between train operators and unions that is crippling Scotland’s railways.
• Tube strike plan to shut London Underground on Monday after Jubilee weekend [subscription]Railway unions have revealed plans to cripple the London Underground when millions of people return to work after the Queen’s jubilee weekend.

City AM

• Van owners discouraged from going electric due to lack of charging pointsAround 57 per cent of van owners feel discouraged from going electric due to a lack of charging points, according to a survey published today. Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed that even though more than a third of all new models come with plug, only one in 20 buyers [...] The post Van owners discouraged from going electric due to lack of charging points appeared first on CityAM.

Birmingham Mail

• New cycling facilities open at Cannock Chase ahead of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth GamesIt includes 'Perry's Trail' an off-road trail for intermediate riders which will be used as the backbone of the course used in the Games

Birmingham Post

• Rhyl Air Show to bring economic boost after Covid hit the last two eventsThe show will take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Free bus travel across West Yorkshire on Jubilee SundayBUS travel across West Yorkshire will be free for everyone on Sunday June 5.

London Evening Standard

• Elizabeth line: 30 London landmarks to turn purple for Crossrail openingondon landmarks including Tower Bridge, the main skyscraper at Canary Wharf, the former Olympic stadium and the London Eye are being turned purple to mark the opening of the Elizabeth line.
• Elizabeth line latest LIVE: Crossrail opens to Londoners after hundreds queue through the nighthe £20 billion Elizabeth line has opened to Londoners with much fanfare after hundreds of people queued throughout the night to take the first trains from Paddington and Abbey Wood.

Manchester Evening News

• London's £19bn Elizabeth line opens today - but where's the Crossrail for the North?'Boris is now saying we need a Crossrail 2, and yeah, we probably do but that will be another £30bn. Where’s that money and why isn’t it being spent in Manchester and Leeds?'

Cambridge News

• Robin Heydon argues the UK should design roads around cycling like the Dutch"They don't design everything around the big fat metal box and then exclaim in shock when nobody has time for sport or going to the gym"

Other Regional Press

• Volunteers needed to help look after Dorchester railway stationA COMMUNITY group is seeking volunteers to help look after a railway station.

New Civil Engineer

• Consultants brought in for Shropshire railway restorationStantec and Allan Rail have been drafted in to work up plans for the restoration of a railway line in Shropshire.
• Elizabeth line opening | 8 civil engineering challenges overcome during 13 years of constructionToday's the day: after some 13 years of construction Crossrail's Elizabeth line will finally open. The Crossrail project first broke ground in May 2009, with the launch of the first pile at the site of the new Canary Wharf station. Tunnelling began in May 2012 and more recent years have seen the project's stations completed and a move to operational testing.

Other News Sources

• Is Crossrail 2 in Surrey happening? Kingston, Epsom and Chessington route and whether it'll be builtThe project was shelved in 2020 but may soon be back on track