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

Wednesday, 31 May 2023

BBC News

• Northern Trains offers £1,000 reward over Kirkstall Forge attacksA rail company is offering a £1,000 reward for information about an air-gun attack on a rush-hour train. Pellets hit a Northern train near Kirkstall Forge station in Leeds at 17:25 BST on 22 May.
• Delayed dualling of A9 is costing lives, says Fergus EwingFergus Ewing calls for a detailed timetable of the planned upgrades to the Inverness-Perth road.
• A5 campaign group 'will not tolerate more road deaths'Campaigners say the A5 between Derry and Aughnacloy is the most dangerous road across the island.

Financial Times

• How Singapore Airlines soared while regional rival Cathay Pacific stalledPost-pandemic success comes as Hong Kong carrier struggles to recover

The Guardian

• Delta Air Lines faces lawsuit over $1bn carbon neutrality claimUS airline pledged to go carbon neutral but plaintiffs say it is relying on offsets that do almost nothing to mitigate global heatingDelta Air Lines is facing a lawsuit over its $1bn carbon neutrality claim which plaintiffs say is “false and misleading” as it relies on offsets that do little to mitigate global heating.In February 2020, the US airline announced plans to go carbon neutral, pledging $1bn to mitigate all greenhouse gas emissions from its business worldwide over the next decade. It included plans to purchase carbon credits generated from conserving rainforest, wetlands and grasslan...
• Rail services in parts of England grind to halt in first of three train strikes this week24-hour drivers’ strike begins as long-running dispute between unions and government over pay, jobs and conditions continues

The Scotsman

• Are SNP ministers’ pledges to cut traffic by 2030 and decarbonise ScotRail by 2035 any more achievable than dualling the A9 by 2025? – Alastair Daltontrick used by politicians announcing a major pledge was to put a date on it sufficiently far in the future when they might not still be in power – or for the problem to be someone else’s should it not be achieved.

Times Online

• Stop attacks on Scottish train staff before someone dies, says union [subscription]Scotrail staff are asking for body cameras as loutish behaviour causes havoc, MSPs have been told
• Electric car infrastructure creaks under demand. [subscription]Study finds areas with one public charging point for every 85 vehicles

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Trees near Saltaire rail line to be removed this weekendA FURTHER stage of work to remove trees next to a railway line to keep the track safe has been welcomed.

London Evening Standard

• Rail passengers to suffer fresh travel disruption amid more strikesMembers of the drivers’ union Aslef will walk out on Wednesday and June 3, while the Rail, Maritime and Transport union has called a strike on June 2.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Metro drivers impressed after testing new Stadler trains on the Tyne and Wear networkThe new trains are undergoing a series of tests before entering service at the end of the year

Yorkshire Post

• National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure: High Speed Rail College which opened in Doncaster in 2017 to close due to low student numbersThe National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster, which was built to train the next generation of engineers to work on HS2 projects, will close this summer after struggling to remain sustainable.

Doncaster Free Press

• Doncaster rail college to close six years after opening with 40 jobs lostThe National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster, which was built to train the next generation of engineers to work on HS2 projects, will close this summer after struggling to remain sustainable, with the loss of 40 jobs.

Leeds Live

• 'Exciting' scheme will see 650 electric bikes made available for hire in LeedsCyclists will be able to travel in and out of the city centre by picking up an e-bike from a docking station

Other Regional Press

• Musselburgh train passengers left stranded for third timeA MUSSELBURGH resident has complained that a "vital" commuter service to Edinburgh has left passengers stranded at least three times in the last eight days.

Calling All Stations - The Transport Podcast

• Calling All Stations with Christian Wolmar, Episode 18What a week! Christian and co-presenter Mark Walker review the extraordinary impact of this podcast's revelation of UK Department for Transport plans to cut passenger wifi provision on franchised rail services in England, including an extensive debate in the House of Lords of the UK Parliament (to whom we are very grateful for the audio clips). Christian also reflects on what recent troubles with UK Border Force e-gates at airports may tell us about our vulnerability to hackers.

Construction News

• Network Rail scraps plans for new Manchester Piccadilly platformsPlans for two new platforms at Manchester’s busiest train station have been dropped in favour of a “new approach” which will see £72m of investment in rail upgrades across the region.

New Civil Engineer

• Findings show ’deep-seated’ problems in Lincolnshire’s roads that highlight the need to build resilienceGeotechnical issues affecting Lincolnshire’s roads are being compounded by climate change, along with rising and heavier road traffic, according to recently published findings, which urge measures such as “bespoke” road repair practices to increase the future resilience of road networks.
• Restoration of listed Victorian railway footbridge in East Yorkshire gets underwayWork has begun on the repair and restoration of Beverley Bridge, a Grade II-listed structure at Beverley Station in East Yorkshire and one of only a handful of its type still in existence.
• Feasibility study for £890M new rail link in Oxfordshire releasedA feasibility study looking at the potential for a new rail link connecting towns in Oxfordshire with Oxford city centre has been released, costing the project at a maximum price of £890M.

Rail Advent

• New platform surface for Wensleydale’s Leeming Bar and Scruton stationsWensleydale Railway in North Yorkshire has announced that platform improvement works at two of its seven stations are now complete.
• Metro drivers give ’thumbs up’ to new Stadler Class 555 trainsDrivers of the Tyne and Wear Metro's new Class 555 trains have overwhelmingly given them their approval after taking part in a series of test runs.

Rail Business Daily

• East Midlands Railway upgrade printers to allow half a million tickets to be recycledEast Midlands Railway (EMR) will now issue customers who buy tickets on board its train a paper version – meaning more than 600,000 a tickets a year can be recycled.

Railway Gazette

• Interview: ’You can’t innovate as a monopolist’Avanti West Coast and c2c parent Trenitalia is ready to make significant investment in Britain’s railways, mirroring its recent expansion in Spain. But this is contingent on the government relaxing its grip on the industry, the company’s UK Managing Director Ernesto Sicilia explains to Nick Kingsley and Sophie Burton.

Other News Sources

• East West Rail Update on Bicester's level crossingA long-awaited update has been given on the fate of an important level crossing, but there are concerns that it has come too late and “has few specifics.”
• Give summer ticket system a chance says rail passenger bodyA new ticketing system planned to operate on trains to and from Skegness this summer has been welcomed by an organisation representing passengers in the county.
• East West Rail route will cause Bedford a "lifetime of pollution, noise and increased traffic," says campaign groupCampaign group Stop The Arc Group (STARC) has slammed the East West Rail (EWR) preferred route from Bedford to Cambridge.
• A blow for privatisation in the battle for British railwaysAs Transpennine Express is taken under government control, we ask: is renationalising more UK trains a viable strategy?