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

Friday, 02 December 2022

BBC News

• Trains: Plans for new London-west Wales services approvedThe regulator approves new rail services between London Paddington and Carmarthen.

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

• More than £70 million to turbocharge the future of clean transportA world-first heavy tractor powered by farm waste is just one of the game-changing projects benefitting from £73 million in new funding for the development of clean transport technologies announced today

The Guardian

• Urgent question on railways chaos sends the Tories running for the hills As frustration builds over failing services, the government accepted something must be done. They just don't know what.

The Telegraph

• Smart motorways avoided by half of drivers. [subscription]Nearly half of drivers say they frequently or occasionally avoid using lane one on smart motorways without a hard shoulder, a new survey suggests.

Times Online

• Toyota to build hydrogen fuel cell trucks in UK. [subscription]The UK’s first mainstream commercial vehicle to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells will be built at the Toyota plant in Derbyshire, holding out the prospect that the Japanese group will choose Britain as its European manufacturing centre for the next-generation zero-emission technology.
• Stop rail strikes, minister and union boss urge Westminster. [subscription]A rail union boss and Scotland’s transport minister have urged Westminster to step in to help avert strikes in the run-up to Christmas.
• Ministers urge RMT union to halt rail strikes over Christmas and new year. [subscription]Ministers have called on Britain’s biggest rail union to be “altruistic” and suspend strike action over Christmas and new year amid warnings that it will cost the economy more than £1.7 billion.

Daily Record

• Bus issues on the agenda as online summit and survey results highlight problems with serviceThe results of a survey identifying problems with the region’s under-fire bus service have been shared with bosses at the operator after gaining more than 600 responses.

Network Rail

• Transpennine Route Upgrade’s first electric wires now in place to power greener journeysOver 30 miles of train-powering electric wires are now in place to help deliver cleaner, greener journeys in the future as part of the multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade.

Birmingham Post

• Why Ford's £125m electric vehicle investment is great news for the North West - and for UK manufacturingMerseyside and Essex plants will be vital parts of Ford's electric vehicle growth plans

Bolton News

• Northern to use smart technology to catch 'chancers'Smart technology is to be used at train station to stop potential 'chancers' in their tracks.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Northern to roll out new technology to catch fare dodgersAUTOMATED ticket checks at barriers in Northern-managed stations are about to get ’smarter’ thanks to new technology that will alert staff to potential ’chancers’ using an incorrect ticket.

London Evening Standard

• RMT boss and Holyrood transport minister urge UK Government to help end strikesail union boss Mick Lynch and Scotland’s transport minister have urged Westminster to step in to help avoid strikes in the run up to Christmas.
• Big fare increases on way as Tube and bus chiefs eye £6bn pot to break evenTube and bus passengers will be paying a record £6bn a year in fares to Transport for London under its new plans to break even, it can been revealed.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Stagecoach Bluebird launches free night buses in time for Christmas nights outStagecoach Bluebird has announced its night bus services will return to Aberdeen this festive season – and will be free

The York Press

• HECK commissions mural for Leeds-Bradford AirportA mural designed by a talented Harrogate artist has taken pride of place at Leeds Bradford Airport, as well as major food and drink exhibitions up and down the country.

Cambridge News

• Mill Road trader says proposed bus gate 'won't solve congestion'A public consultation is currently running to ask the public for their opinion on what changes they would like to see made to Mill Road

Kent Online

• Bus station next to The Mall in Maidstone mouldy and leaking one year after £1.5m revampA £1.5 million revamp of a bus station has been described as “terrible” after leaks left ugly marks on the walls.

Leeds Live

• Leeds Bradford Airport parking charges to increase over Christmas periodThe study revealed that the seventh biggest difference in car parking fees was at the Leeds airport

Other Regional Press

• Network Rail worries inflation will eat into £44bn investment planUpcoming funding settlement to cover five year period from spring 2024
• ’Ghost’ railways set to be revitalisedAMBITIOUS plans to revitalise ’ghost’ railway lines - some of which have been closed to passenger services for half a century - thanks to a multi-million pound scheme to reconnect left-behind communities have broken cover.
• Transport Secretary working to ’encourage’ deal aimed at avoiding rail strikesThe Transport Secretary has said he is trying to “encourage” a deal between employers and trade unions on reforming the rail industry and bringing an end to the strikes.

Coach and Bus Week

• County council ’saves 350,000 bus journeys’Following an exercise to find new providers for bus routes cut by Stagecoach West, Gloucestershire County Council has appointed new operators
• Councils could help motorists switch modes, report saysIndependent research commissioned by Stagecoach shows motorists could save up to £6,000 per year by replacing some car journeys with public transport
• First partners with Prospective for fleet schedulingFirst Bus and Prospective.io have been working in partnership since 2019 to develop and test automated timetabling and fleet scheduling software, which is now being rolled out across some of First’s largest UK operating companies
• Doing it WrightJonathan Welch paid a visit to the Wrightbus factory to see what goes in to producing the firm’s diesel, electric and hydrogen-fuelled buses

New Civil Engineer

• TfL vows to develop Crossrail 2 plans and extensions to Bakerloo line and DLRTransport for London (TfL) has committed to continue developing proposed rail schemes including Crossrail 2, the West London Orbital (WLO) and extensions of the Bakerloo line and Docklands Light Railway (DLR).

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• The Highland Council to establish own bus operationThe Highland Council will commence running buses via an in-house operation on 4 January 2023. 11 pilot services that will fall under a Section 22 community bus permit have been registered with the Traffic Commissioner. Seven will start from that date with the other four following five days later.
• DfT asks for pre-pandemic ENCTS reimbursement in 2023/24The Department for Transport (DfT) has informed travel concession authorities (TCAs) in England outside London of its “strong preference” for them to maintain ENCTS reimbursement in the 2023/24 financial year at pre-pandemic levels.

Other News Sources

• DP World trains from Southampton to London Gateway will cut lorry useA NEW freight rail service between Southampton and Essex is part of an effort to take 300,000 trucks of the roads each year.
• Regulator approves new Grand Union train service from Carmarthen to London PaddingtonThe Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has opened up the Great Western Main Line to competition and enabled a significant increase in rail services between London and South Wales.
• Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh tells RIA North Conference: rail can drive the green industrial revolution and boost decarbonised economic growthShadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh told the RIA North Conference in Manchester today that rail can drive the green industrial revolution and boost decarbonised economic growth. Setting out Labour’s vision in remarks targeting political influencers, rail suppliers, clients and key stakeholders, she said:
• Bus shake up as Filers Travel pull out of Combe Martin to Barnstaple routeA subsidised bus service is set to change hands in North Devon after Filers Travel gave Devon County Council (DCC) notice it will cease operating the 301 service between Combe Martin, Ilfracombe, Muddiford and Barnstaple. Following a tender process, Stagecoach will take over the operation of the 301 service, subsidised by DCC, from Monday December 12.