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

Tuesday, 18 July 2023

BBC News

• Eurostar: Facial verification system to reduce queues at St PancrasSome Eurostar passengers travelling from London can now avoid manual ticket and passport checks by UK officials due to a new facial verification system.
• Birmingham Airport workers suspend strike over new pay offerTuesday's walkout at Birmingham Airport is paused while Unite union members are balloted on the deal.

Department for Transport

• Work on track to bring HS2 to BirminghamThe new Curzon Street Station will bring high-speed rail services to help connect cities and towns across the West Midlands and beyond.
• New study into running HS2 train services to Leeds launchesStudy will assess potential options to run HS2 trains into Leeds city centre and reassess evidence to improve connectivity in Bradford.

Financial Times

• Dover warns of long ferry delays as Britain's summer getaway beginsUK's busiest port says travellers face waits of up to 2.5 hours owing to post-Brexit checks

The Independent

• Battery breakthroughs are about to trigger a transport revolutionElectric vehicles were once the norm, before petrol took over, writes technology correspondent Anthony Cuthbertson. Now, more than a century later, huge technological leaps forward could soon make batteries the main means of propulsion on air, land and sea

Times Online

• Reach Dover three hours early, drivers told before holiday rush. [subscription]Border delays fuelled by Brexit are expected to peak for summer on Friday
• Train drivers announce overtime ban for height of school holidaysTrain drivers will refuse to work overtime for nearly a week at the peak of the school summer holidays, the Aslef union has announced.

Transport Committee

• Accessible Transport: Committee re-opens evidence submissions after proposals to close train ticket officesThe Transport Committee has re-opened its call for evidence as part of its inquiry into Accessible Transport. The decision to re-open submissions comes after train operating companies launched consultations into plans to close over 300 ticket offices across the rail network.

i News

• How the new fast-track Eurostar check-in process is set to ease post-Brexit border congestionEurostar’s CEO says that she intends for the success of the new process to be a proof of concept for the EU to take note of

Sky News

• Eurostar passengers from St Pancras to be able to skip passport checks thanks to facial recognition techTo participate, passengers need to download an app before travel to scan their identity document and verify their face and ticket.

Belfast Telegraph

• Five mayors set to take legal action against rail office closuresGreater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and four other mayors are preparing to take legal action against train operators in an effort to stop the closure of just under 1,000 ticket offices.

Birmingham Mail

• Transport chief insists HS2 'on track' as new Birmingham deadline revealedMark Harper was alongside his Australian counterpart Catherine King on a wet visit to the Curzon Street in Digbeth on Monday
• Saved historic bus route expands as passenger numbers grow - but with new numberBus linking Birmingham, Bromsgrove and Queen Elizabeth Hospital seen growing passenger numbers

Birmingham Post

• Safran starts work on new Gloucestershire technology centreThe new facility will house more than 300 staff within the aerospace giant’s aircraft landing gear division
• Ecotricity founder Dale Vince announces plans for electric airlineThe Gloucestershire business man, who is also chairman of football club Forest Green Rovers, said the sustainable carrier was scheduled for takeoff next year

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• MP calls for solutions to road safety and ASB problemsMP Kim Leadbeater called for solutions to issues of road safety and anti-social behaviour in her Batley and Spen constituency.

London Evening Standard

• Eurostar passengers can avoid UK passport checks by having faces scannedurostar passengers departing from London can avoid manual checks of tickets and passports by UK officials through a facial verification system.

Manchester Evening News

• 'We need to fight for a different future for our railways': Andy Burnham on why he is taking legal action to keep train ticket offices openTogether with five other Labour Mayors, I am preparing to launch a legal action against the train operators' plans to close around 1,000 offices across England. For the good of the country, it’s a campaign we must win.
• Why increasing levels of air travel won't lead to growth in UK productivity or GDPAviation reports by the industry and Government almost always begin with a statement about the supposed economic benefits of air travel. But-up-to-date, independent evidence to substantiate these claims has been lacking.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• RAF could be drafted in to help airlift food to Orkney amid ferry crisis in ’worst case scenario’Fears have been raised the RAF may need to provide supplies to Orkney communities amid warnings their ageing ferry fleet could collapse.

Yorkshire Post

• Rail ticket office closures would be short sighted, leaving vulnerable passengers in limbo - The Yorkshire Post saysThe proposals are a bid to cut costs with revenue falling after the pandemic. But surely for revenues to recover more people need to be encouraged to travel by rail?

Peterborough Telegraph

• Tackling 'interruption' of Peterborough's Bourges Boulevard among early tasks for Station Quarter designersPlans for a multi-million pound transformation of Peterborough’s railway station and the surrounding area will initially focus on tackling the barrier to the city centre posed by Bourges Boulevard.

Other Regional Press

• Brexit problems cause delays to TfL’s tram network repairsA shortage of trams due to serious damage to the rolling stock’s wheels has forced Transport for London to suspend service on the branch line between Croydon Arena and Elmers End.
• High pollen count blamed for faulty new TfW trainsA HIGH pollen count has been blamed for "technical issues" with Transport for Wales' (TfW) new Wrexham-Bidston line trains.
• West Dunbartonshire transport group praised by local MPA LOCAL transport group has been praised for providing a lifeline service for vulnerable residents.
• Bishop’s Stortford Town Council sustainable transport sub-committee takes first stepsBishop’s Stortford Town Council’s newly formed sustainable transport sub-committee has held its first meeting.
• Harrogate’s transport leader 'honoured' to run for powerful new £540m role of elected mayor for North Yorkshire and YorkThe Tory councillor grappling with some of Harrogate's thorniest transport problems is to stand to be the first elected powerful mayor of York and North Yorkshire.
• Councils approve £121,000 transport modelling cash to support Greater Nottingham Strategic PlanIn a move to bolster the Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan, Nottingham City Council has approved a decision to fund transport modelling.
• Plan for first sustainable aviation fuel plant announced for TeessideA planning application is expected to be submitted for the aviation fuel refinery in the coming weeks
• Legal action plan to fight rail ticket office closures in Yorkshire and UKMayors across Yorkshire and other parts of the country have united to try and block the plans
• 'A campaign we must win': Andy Burnham and Northern mayors are taking legal action over train station ticket office closuresAndy Burnham and other regional mayors in the north are set to take legal action over the widespread closure of railway station ticket offices, it can be revealed tonight.

New Civil Engineer

• Atkins launches toolkit to calculate airport schemes’ embodied carbon at design stageAtkins has collaborated with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on a “digital toolkit” that estimates the embodied carbon associated with airport construction.
• DfT official says roads remain a priority despite Climate Committee’s call for plans to be reviewedAn official from the Department for Transport (DfT) says roads should remain a priority despite the Climate Change Committee's (CCC's) recommendation that all road-building plans should be reviewed.
• Government launches study into connecting HS2 services to LeedsThe government has launched the long-awaited study into options for running High Speed 2 (HS2) trains to Leeds city centre.

Rail Advent

• New report sets out three phase strategy to improve rail services in North East, Yorkshire and MidlandsRegional leaders from the North and Midlands have rallied behind a new report that presents a cost-efficient approach to enhancing rail connections across their regions, as opposed to the original HS2 eastern route proposals.

Railnews

• Rail union leader claims government does not care about passengers or staff The general secretary of the drivers’ union ASLEF has launched a broadside against the government and train operators, accusing them of not caring about railway passengers and staff. His comments came as he announced another week-long overtime ban in England between 31 July and 5 August. ASLEF has already started a similar ban today, which will continue until Saturday.

Other News Sources

• Siemens Mobility and partners raise thousands for Goole charitiesSiemens Mobility and its partners have come together to raise tens of thousands of pounds for a local charity with its inaugural Goole Cricket Day, held on Friday 14 July.
• P&O Pioneer represents the future of ferry travelP&O Ferries’ new Fusion-class ship will enter service later this year, serving the Dover to Calais route between England and France
• Reports suggest RAF could aid Orkney ferry crisisReports have emerged suggesting the Royal Air Force could be called in to airlift supplies to Orkney.
• Manchester Airport records busiest month in four years as it prepares for school holidaysManchester Airport is ready for the school holidays having recorded its busiest month since September 2019.
• Welsh Affairs Committee to examine Transport for Wales’ performance and South Wales Metro costsTHE WELSH AFFAIRS COMMITTEE in Westminster has announced that it will be holding a special evidence session on Wednesday, July 19, with Transport for Wales Chief Executive Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde. The committee members will focus on assessing the performance of Transport for Wales (TfW) services as well as the increasing costs associated with the South Wales Metro project.
• Transport secretary Mairi McAllan to join panel at The Inverness Courier A9 Crisis SummitThe broken A9 dualling promise is back in the spotlight as the politician in overall charge of Scotland’s transport system, cabinet secretary Màiri McAllan, will attend The Inverness Courier A9 Crisis...
• HS2: £150M Birmingham people mover deal on the horizonA £150M deal to build the long-awaited Birmingham shuttle system has moved a step closer as HS2 Ltd outlined dates for the procurement process.
• Voice of the Mirror: 'Closing railway ticket offices will hit vulnerable and elderly'The private train companies and Tory Government will have to go back to the drawing board if the Labour mayors, marshalled by Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham, win their legal attempt to derail a consultation process dismissed as “shambolic”
• Rail customers to benefit from a more reliable railway as Network Rail get sets to complete 15 key upgrades between Guildford and Petersfield later this monthStarting a week today, engineers will work around the clock over a five-day period to complete an ambitious 15 different projects at multiple worksites on the Portsmouth Direct line between Guildford and Petersfield.