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

Friday, 23 December 2022

Cogitamus

• 🎄🎄Merry Christmas from TransportInfo 🎄🎄We will be taking a short break over the festive season. TransportInfo will not be updated between 24 December 2022 and 2 January 2023. We will be back on Tuesday 3 January 2023. 🎄The team at Cogitamus would like to send all our readers our warmest wishes for a joyous Christmas season and a wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year. 🎄

BBC News

• Climate change: Household rubbish to be turned into jet fuelWaste gases from a steelworks and household rubbish could be used to fuel aeroplanes for "guilt-free flying".
• TransPennine Express cancels dozens more rail servicesTransPennine Express (TPE) has had to cancel dozens of services for a second day running with some linked to an ongoing IT problem.
• End of the line for Birmingham New Street signal boxThe Brutalist building's nerve centre has been helping to keep rail passengers safe since the 1960s.
• TransPennine Express cancels dozens more rail servicesTransPennine Express cancels services for a second day running with some linked to an IT issue.
• Rail fares in England to rise by up to 5.9% from MarchThe below-inflation increase in regulated fares will take place in March, the government said.
• Airport strikes: Border Force staff begin Christmas walkoutTravellers arriving in the UK are warned to expect disruption and delays as staff who check passports go on strike.

Department for Transport

• Biggest government intervention ever to keep rail fares downThe intervention will help reduce the impact of high inflation for passengers.

Financial Times

• Rail commuters in England hit with 5.9% fare rise Passenger groups warn about impact on demand despite ministers intervening to keep increase below inflation
• ‘People are really feeling the pinch’: UK unions remain defiant as strike costs bitePublic urged to provide support in winter war of attrition with the government
• No comfort and little joy for UK travellers as air and rail strikes loomLong arrival queues expected at airports on top of industrial action on train services from Christmas Eve
• ‘There will still be a global trade’: Maersk chief bows out after 40-year voyageSøren Skou set to hand over the rein with best results in Danish group’s history
• Cathay Pacific faces cabin crew industrial action over ChristmasBlow to Hong Kong’s main airline as it slowly recovers from Covid restrictions

The Guardian

• Rail fares in England to increase by up to 5.9% in MarchGovernment says it has made its biggest ever intervention to keep rise below inflation, but Labour condemns ’sick joke’
• The Guardian view on buses: a subsidy for £2 fares is money well spent | EditorialMaking mass transport more affordable will both help people now and reduce carbon emissionsThe UK government was slower than several of its European counterparts to realise it. But making public transport cheaper is a good policy that can be expected to deliver multiple benefits. The announcement earlier this week that bus companies in England will be subsidised to cap local fares at £2 for three months, from January to March, is very welcome. It should make life a bit easier for the millions of people who rely on buses to travel to work and for other journeys. Many of them are facing a painfu...
• Border Force staff join strikes as postal workers walk out againPassengers arriving in UK can expect longer queues while mail may not arrive in time for ChristmasBorder Force officials will on Friday join the wave of industrial action across Britain, starting the first of a series of strikes at airports, while Royal Mail workers walk out again for two days before Christmas.Passengers travelling into the UK have been warned to be prepared for longer queues at immigration in airports, while many letters and parcels will now go undelivered before Christmas, as staff take action over pay trailing behind inflation. Continue reading...

The Independent

• Train strikes – live: Days of airport and road chaos loom as rail workers walk outMillions of Britons travelling for Christmas face unprecedented travel disruption with strikes causing misery for rail and air passengers, and thousands more drivers taking to the roads.

The Scotsman

• Rail freight playing major role in bringing Christmas down the line - Martin Bignell“Just in Case” is also starting to emerge as a logistical term, following years of the more familiar “Just in Time” (JIT). This mindset shift in larger manufacturers and organisations has been a reaction to the turbulent times since 2019, a period that has turned supply chains on their heads, a result of tremendous shocks to the previously smooth running and relative predictability of consumer demand.

The Telegraph

• Rail firms accused of not playing fair on strike refundsCustomers who face disruption due to 'stealth strikes' could be denied compensation

Times Online

• Christmas rail delays a strike too far for tolerant French. [subscription]About 200,000 travellers have lost their train bookings for the Christmas weekend after ticket inspectors went ahead with industrial action that has angered the usually strike-tolerant French.
• Rail fares in England to rise 5.9% in March. [subscription]Mark Harper: Below-inflation increase represents the biggest ever government intervention in ticket prices
• Air passengers face delays as passport staff begin walkout. [subscription]Families returning home for Christmas are set to be hit hardest by delays at passport control as a strike by Border Force workers begins today.

Sky News

• Thousands of flights could be delayed as Border Force workers strikeHundreds of thousands of air passengers face possible delays today as Border Force workers become the latest to go on strike.
• Long queues loom for drivers in 'frantic' Friday getaway before Christmas weekendDrivers have been warned to expect long queues as millions take to the roads ahead of the Christmas weekend.

Birmingham Mail

• Bus driver ran 'sophisticated' £90,000 bogus travel ticket fraudOver an 18 month period a bus driver printed bogus travel tickets in a sophisticated fraud

Birmingham Post

• Teesside green aviation fuel plant secures share of £165m government investmentThe Lighthouse Green Fuels Project at Billingham is among five recipients of the Advanced Fuels Fund

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Major bus timetable changes for Black Country services to come into force from next yearMajor changes will be made to a string of bus services across the Black Country from the start of next year amid some routes being axed by transport chiefs.
• Hike in rail fares of nearly six per cent met with furious backlashA planned hike in rail fares of almost six per cent in March has been met with a furious backlash by MPs in the region.

Bucks Free Press

• Rail fares increase to nearly 6 per cent in 2023Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed that rail fares in England would increase by 5.9% in March.

Other Regional Press

• Local politicians not won over by transport priorities reportDISAPPOINTING and lacking ambition – these are two terms which have been used by local politicians about a report on future transport investment which has been published by the Scottish Government.
• Loss of ferry service a 'sad day for Hythe'A GROUP set up to help save the historic Hythe pier and railway has called the imminent closure of the ferry "very sad news".
• Rail fares increase to nearly 6 per cent in 2023Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed that rail fares in England would increase by 5.9% in March.

New Civil Engineer

• London Assembly member suggests ’better’ uses for Silvertown Tunnel including tram network and DLR extensionA two-way tram system, an extension to the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and improved walking and cycling links are among the suggestions for “better” uses of the Silvertown Tunnel by Green Party London Assembly member Sian Berry.
• Green light for new £184M Cambridge South train stationThe Department for Transport (DfT) has granted a transport and works act order (TWAO) to Network Rail for the construction of its brand new Cambridge South railway station.

Rail Business Daily

• Transport for Wales: Focusing on creating a more joined up network across all modes of travelTransport for Wales (TfW) has published a five-year Corporate Strategy outlining how they’ll improve public transport and encourage more people to travel sustainably. 
• CAF completes first Women in Rail cross industry mentoring programmeTen CAF employees have become the company’s first participants in the Women in Rail Cross Industry Mentoring Programme.

Railway Gazette

• Rail leaders frustrated as DfT tightens grip and cuts loomUK: Rail Business UK has taken soundings from across the train operating companies, Network Rail and from sources close to the Department for Transport, finding a bleak outlook. Industry leaders fear having to implement stark cuts to rail provision, even if the industrial relations issues plaguing the sector can be resolved.

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• Daimler battery-electric coaches: More details revealedDaimler Buses has outlined further details of its work on battery-electric coaches. Those efforts involve collaboration with centres of research on delivering such a drivetrain that suits multiple operating profiles before two demonstrator coaches are assembled.
• Fuel duty concern returns as Sunak quiet on rise plansConcern that fuel duty could rise by 23% in late March 2023 has resurfaced after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak repeatedly refused to deny that the planned increase will be shelved.
• DfT ’backs coach decarbonisation – but data needed’The Department for Transport (DfT) has said that it is “committed to decarbonisation of the UK coach fleet.”
• Gateshead Central Taxis takes Enviro200s from MistralGateshead Central Taxis has taken delivery of the first four of an order for six 10.8m Alexander Dennis Enviro200s. They have been supplied under a rental package by Mistral and the remaining two were expected to arrive soon afterwards.

The Business Desk

• Company spies fresh transport sector opportunities with £10.5m dealThe agreement is for Internet of Things (IoT) data which resides in the client’s data centre to be migrated to the cloud.

Transport Scotland

• Public opinion on the A96 Corridor and Initial appraisal publishedThe Initial appraisal identifies the 16 retained options for further consideration from the list of over 11,000 generated by the public consultation. The 16 retained options cover Active Travel, Bus, Freight, Public Transport, Rail and Road proposals, and includes an option on full dualling between Inverness and Aberdeen.

Other News Sources

• UK’s Transport for London scouting for Indian innovators, tech companies that can address London’s transport challenges: Rikesh ShahNEW DELHI: Transport for London, the integrated government authority responsible for the transport network in the UK's capital, such as the world renowned underground metro ’Tube’, is scouting for innovators and mobility technology companies from India who can help the authority develop solutions and applications to address London’s transportation challenges.
• Network Rail leader seeks to engage with civic and business leadersAndrew Haines, the boss of Network Rail, and the lead on the preparatory for its successor, the Great British Railways Transition Team, has encouraged his civic and business peers to get behind rail reform. The rail boss has been on tour to promote the economic benefits of the sector at large. Haines took his case to the heart of industrial Yorkshire, in support of the UK government’s vision for the industry.