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

Thursday, 04 May 2023

Cogitamus

• The Chris Stokes Column - Time running out for Conservatives' rail reformsThe Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) grinds slowly on, with little discernible output, despite allegedly three hundred people beavering away. The recruitment section of the GBRTT website says: We move with pace. This will be exciting and varied work. You will need to be agile in your thinking and willing to take calculated risks.

BBC News

• CalMac racks up £1.6m crew bill for unfinished Glen Sannox ferryFerry operator CalMac has run up a £1.6m bill for crewing costs for the Glen Sannox ferry which is still being built at Ferguson shipyard.
• Cost of Manx ferry terminal in Liverpool unclearThe final cost of the Isle of Man's new ferry terminal in Liverpool is currently unknown, the infrastructure minister has said.
• India's Go First cancels flights after bankruptcyThe airline blames US engine maker Pratt & Whitney for having to ground its planes.

ITV News

• Strikes by security guards at Heathrow to go ahead after pay talks break downA series of strikes by security guards at Heathrow Airport will go ahead from Thursday after last-minute talks over a pay dispute broke down.

Department for Transport

• Jo Shanmugalingam appointed as new Second Permanent Secretary at DfTJo Shanmugalingam brings significant experience from across government departments.

Financial Times

• Chinese airlines will be allowed to expand their flights to the USUS transportation department's decision will allow carriers from Asian country to boost weekly round-trip flights from eight to 12

The Independent

• Luton airport: birthplace of legends, and environmental miracles?Luton: birthplace of legends. I am not thinking here about singer Paul Young or broadcaster Stacey Dooley, but of Europe’s two biggest budget airlines. Luton airport was chosen by young entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou as the base for a new carrier, easyJet, in 1995. And nine years earlier than that, the Bedfordshire airport was the first destination from Dublin for an Irish start-up called Ryanair.
• Trains strikes expected to drag on through the summer, says rail union bossExclusive: Aslef’s Mick Whelan has called the walk-outs ’government-led’, ’government-driven’ and ’government-organised’

Times Online

• Yellow box fines unfair on drivers, says RAC. [subscription]Drivers are at risk of being unfairly fined by councils for stopping in yellow box junctions, the RAC has said. Problems with the boxes include their size, visibility and locations.

Belfast Telegraph

• Streetlights and public transport among services under threat from NI budget cutsPublic services from street lighting and road maintenance to community transport could be cut as the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) addresses a 14% budget shortfall.

London Evening Standard

• Heathrow Airport passengers warned of disruption as security staff strikePassengers at Heathrow Airport are being warned to limit their hand baggage as security officers stage a series of walkouts, starting on Thursday.

Bucks Free Press

• Conservative MP calls for powers to overturn London transport plansProposals to allow ministers to review and overturn controversial tansport schemes introduced by the Mayor of London will be raised in Parliament today.

Other Regional Press

• Spalding faces gridlock as 100 additional trains to pas through town centre each daySpalding is facing further gridlock when an additional 100 trains over two days will be passing through the town centre due to engineering works.
• Cumbrae: Ferry campaigners hold season tickets meeting with ministerCampaigners fighting to restore season tickets on the Largs to Cumbrae ferry route held a crunch meeting with the transport minister on Tuesday.
• Catering woes add to points failure disruption on rail routes through ShropshireA train operator running services through Shropshire has said that catering will not be available on a number of its services today.
• TransPennine Express slammed as Huddersfield trains cancelled and passenger forced to pay for £80 taxiStuart Beaumont said company has failed to reimburse him £80 for taxi fare after train cancellation

New Civil Engineer

• Campaign group calls for full restoration of east Scotland railway abandoned 55 years agoAn action group is campaigning for the full restoration of a railway line in east Scotland abandoned in 1968 during the Beeching Cuts.
• Menai Suspension Bridge | Failure to replace hangers as recommended 30 years ago is ’scandalous’New evidence shows that hangers at risk from brittle failure on the Menai Suspension Bridge, which connects mainland Wales and the Isle of Anglesey, were recommended to be replaced over 30 years before concerns led to the closure of the structure last autumn.

Rail Advent

• Rail Industry Association discusses rail issues with UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper MPRail Industry Association Scotland organised the meeting with UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper MP on the 28th of April at the Scottish Conservatives Conference and saw rail issues debated.

Other News Sources

• Transport minister visits Aberdeen for 'fact-finding' trip on North Sea emergency response vesselsMark Harper was invited aboard the Mariner Sentinel in Aberdeen Harbour in order to learn about the work of Emergency Response and Rescue Vessels in the North Sea and elsewhere

News from Europe

• How Switzerland wants to develop rail transportDr Peter Füglistaler, Director of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), discusses the ways in which both passenger and rail freight transport in Switzerland must be developed, including the need to expand infrastructure and the potential for Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC).
• Demand for Germany's €49 transport ticket crashes Deutsche Bahn websiteDemand for the new €49 nationwide ticket for public transport in Germany is overwhelming providers like Deutsche Bahn, who are seeing millions of sudden subscribers.