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

Monday, 17 July 2023

BBC News

• HS2 leaves Midlands communities with 'hostility' and mixed feelingHS2's rising costs and impact on the countryside continue to prompt accounts of anxiety, "open hostility" and also mixed feeling among nearby West Midlands communities.
• Fuel retailers urged to back government price sharing schemeThe energy secretary is asking supermarkets and petrol stations to publish prices to aid competition.

ITV News

• Electric bus trialled in Jersey and GuernseyIslanders are being asked to give feedback on a new electric bus on trial.

The Guardian

• The Guardian view on closing train station ticket offices: the wrong route | EditorialModernisation does not have to mean closures and cuts. The government and train companies should think again. In 1963, as the cost-cutting axe fell on railway branch lines across the country, the popular songwriters Flanders and Swann mourned their loss in elegiac verse: “No one departs, no one arrives / From Selby to Goole, from St Erth to St Ives / They’ve all passed out of our lives.”
• Airport expansion does not boost UK growth or productivity reportClaims that airport expansion will help grow the UK economy should be treated with scepticism, according to a report that finds air travel does not increase productivity or growth.

The Herald

• Glasgow bus row exposes Scottish transport failingsIT has been another spell of controversy for Scotland's transport network, but in perhaps a surprising turn of events, not all the headlines have been made by the country’s troubled ferry service.
• Cycling Scotland data shows drivers 'more at fault' than cyclistsA new analysis of road safety data shows myths about cycling are making the roads less safe for people on bikes, a campaign organisation has claimed.

The Telegraph

• Put the HS2 white elephant to sleep, once and for all. [subscription]There is simply no justification plunging billions of taxpayer funds into this shambles of a project

City AM

• Rail strikes: Lynch says government hasn’t spoken to RMT since JanuaryRail strike misery looks set to continue for commuters after Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said the government had not spoken to him about finding a resolution since the start of the year.
• Gatwick boss says airport is prepped to avoid chaos – despite strikes and cancellationsGatwick’s boss has said that the airport is not expecting further flight cancellations over the busy summer season.

Daily Record

• Scottish Government accused of 'kicking the can down the road' on public transport fares reviewThe number of Scots using public transport plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic with some services axed as a result.

This is Money

• Airlines in flight chaos may be forced to offer customers cashA class action aims to make airlines automatically contact and offer compensation to customers whose journeys were affected.

Birmingham Mail

• The WAU Cyber is a new e-bike set to shake up the electric vehicle industryWAU is a small company on a big mission - to change the way we travel. Operating out of a small, unassuming unit in a Rowley Regis industrial park, the start-up have ambitions to become ’the Tesla the electric bike industry’ - and they think they’ve got the product to do it.
• I tried the futuristic e-bike made in Birmingham that's going to 'change the future of transport'The WAU Cyber is a new e-bike set to shake up the electric vehicle industry

Bolton News

• Clean Air Zone delay blamed on Government in latest developmentThe Clean Air Zone delay has led to an outcry from transport bosses who have described the latest roadblock as ’disappointing’, ’farcical’ and ’deeply frustrating’.

Bristol Live

• Bristol's litter police targeting bus and train passengers who 'put down cups' at stationsCity council's environmental enforcement officers hand out £100 spot fines for dropping rubbish - but there is a lack of bins at the major transport hubs

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Work on track to bring HS2 to Birmingham as transport secretary visits West MidlandsWork to bring HS2 services to Birmingham is on track, it has been announced as workers prepare to carry out the UK’s heaviest bridge drive to install a box structure beneath the West Coast Main Line near Lichfield.

Leeds Live

• Ryanair Italy warning as dozens of flights cancelled and more strikes plannedThe disruption has been caused by striking transport workers in Italy

Other Regional Press

• What is TfL's Superloop bus in London? How it worksLondoners will be well aware that the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has been sharing plans to improve travel across the region.
• Passenger's anger over 'bendy and unsafe' steps in Holey railway station Train company Northern has responded to rail passenger's complaint about an unsafe staircase
• Rural transport concerns over plans for Warwickshire to join WMCAThere will be a period of consultation

New Civil Engineer

• How the built environment sector can help transform wider UK skills master planningThe topic of workforce skills planning is rarely out of the media headlines these days and invariably discussions focus on the negative aspects of how we aren’t collectively getting this right in the UK. Against this backdrop, we wanted to change the narrative and highlight a key area of untapped potential for skills master planning, linked to the built environment, but with a significant impact to transform the UK’s talent pipeline across the board.
• First ever 3D-printed concrete headwall trialled on A30 upgrade schemeCostain and National Highways have created a 3D-printed concrete headwall to be trialled as part of the construction process of the A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross upgrade in Cornwall.
• ’Making the most’ of ageing road network will be priority for National Highways in RIS3National Highways will look to make the most of its existing network and ageing infrastructure as a priority in its upcoming Road Investment Strategy 3 (RIS3), 2025-2030.

Rail Advent

• Transport Secretary to visit the West Midlands to see progress of new HS2 railway stationAustralian Minister, Catherine King, is to visit Birmingham today with the UK's Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, to see progress on HS2's new Curzon Street station.

Railway Gazette

• Avanti West Coast launches real-time interactive train mapUK: Technology company Signalbox has developed a customised interactive live map for Avanti West Coast’s website which enables passengers to track their train in real-time.

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• Hydrogen ’the only option’ for Metrobus Fastway ZEHydrogen fuel cell-electric remains the most realistic zero-emission technology for usage cases requiring very high mileage and utilisation capabilities. That is the verdict from the Go-Ahead Group after its Metrobus subsidiary launched 20 Wrightbus GB Kite Hydroliner single-deckers on 29 June.
• Opinion: Coach and bus have wide-ranging societal impactThe industry is about much more than moving people from A to B, highlights CPT CEO Graham Vidler
• How can electric bus chargers service other sectors?Over 2,000 battery-electric buses are in service today in the UK, according to recent Zemo Partnership analysis. That means there are over 2,000 buses’ worth of chargers sitting largely idle for long periods of the day in depots around the country, waiting to be plugged in when the buses return at the end of service.

Other News Sources

• Stonehenge Tunnel given green light by governmentThe government has approved National Highways’ £1.7bn scheme to construct a road tunnel past Stonehenge in Wiltshire.
• Mace boss rips into 'absolutely shameful' decision to mothball HS2 EustonMark Reynolds says government told firms one thing and then did opposite with ’sneaky’ announcement
• 70% of UK's most popular domestic flights 'are faster and cheaper by train'Most of the nation’s most popular domestic flights and some short-haul European destinations could be completed cheaper and faster by train, according to a new report.
• First complete tunnel on HS2 project to feature in TV documentaryJournalist, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo has visited the first completed tunnel on the HS2 project in Warwickshire as part of his popular TV travel series.
• First steel erected at Teesside Airport business park which is set to create thousands of jobsThe first steel on a £200m business park is now in place as construction of a vital new link road to the site also nears completion.
• London City Airport appeals as more weekend flights rejectedLondon City Airport is launching an appeal after a council blocked its plans to expand its flying time on Saturday afternoons following hundreds of objections from local residents.