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

Friday, 11 August 2023

BBC News

• Plans for Manchester-Leeds M62 railway bridge to be rebuiltPlans have been submitted to demolish and rebuild a 55-year-old bridge carrying a railway line which runs between Manchester and Leeds.
• Hull council says rail ticket office closures 'discriminatory'The proposed closure of rail station ticket offices would "discriminate against" vulnerable passengers, Hull City Council has said.
• HS2 to bury diggers ready to bore tunnel to EustonEngineers building HS2 are to put two large diggers in the ground to prepare to bore a tunnel to Euston - despite doubts over whether it will be built.
• Passengers trialling electric bus in GuernseyPassengers in Guernsey are taking part in a trial of a new electric bus. The emission-cutting vehicle will run until 18 August to test its suitability, the States said.
• On board Virgin Galactic's tourist journey to spaceA look inside the company's first space tourism flight, which took off from New Mexico on Thursday

Financial Times

• Ryanair: online agents unlikely to win verification face-off The airline has sought to undercut indirect booking long before the spat over data protection
• Flight delays may be the norm in post-pandemic BritainAbout a third of departures were cancelled or delayed in the five months to May

The Guardian

• Six ways to get Britain's railways back on track“ and six reasons for cheerAs the industry struggles with multiple challenges, here are the issues it needs to tackle, and some hopeful developments In 2017, the commuter train of the future boasted an onboard gym, games consoles, swivelling armchairs and private pods for making calls or using laptops.

The Herald

• Will we ever hear a principled argument backing how buses operate? [Letter]IT occurred to me when reading Roz Foyer's recent article ("It’s time to stop asking nicely – and take back control of our buses", The Herald, August 4) that for all the voices thus far raised about the night bus situation in Glasgow, I have not yet heard an opinion from the Scottish Conservatives.

City AM

• North and West London faces ’bus standstill’ as workers vote on strike action North and West London's bus network could grind to a halt this autumn, the Unite Union has warned, as hundreds of workers are to be balloted for strikes in an ongoing dispute over pay. 500 employees
• HS2 status update: Now they’re burying the diggers Engineers are being forced to bury diggers at Old Oak Common in case ministers give the go-ahead for project's Euston leg

Daily Record

• Almost two fifths of bus routes have been axed since the SNP came to powerTraffic Commissioner statistics showing a 38 per cent decline in local bus routes in Scotland between 2007 and 2023.

Network Rail

• Levenmouth Rail Link plans for new bridgeNetwork Rail has submitted a planning application to Fife Council to build a bridge over the new railway between Kirkland and Mountfleurie.
• London Waterloo station welcomes artist Doug Hyde’s 20th anniversary collection ’One Love’ to the heart of the capitalBritain’s busiest station is hosting a brand-new art exhibition titled ’One Love’ which champions positivity and inclusion.
• Four-car-trains return to Cambrian Railway Line for first time in six years thanks to collaborative efforts of ’Local Railways Partnership’Local passengers and tourists will benefit from enhanced comfort, capacity and connectivity, on peak services on the scenic Welsh coast line, over the summer holidays, as well as the launch of a brand-new window seat audio guide.

Sky News

• 'Far more dramatic than I imagined': Virgin Galactic passengers on flight to edge of spaceVirgin Galactic has taken its first tourists to the edge of space, with an 80-year-old British ex-Olympian saying the trip "exceeded my wildest dreams".

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Louise Haigh hears case for restoring Skipton-Colne linePLANS for the reopening of a railway line which it's claimed would provide a huge economic boost for Keighley have been presented to the Shadow Transport Secretary.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Steam buffs launch £100K appeal to get Snowdonia railway project back on trackA planning bid was rejected in April over sewage fears but Bala Lake Railway said it was the 'best thing that could have happened'

Other Regional Press

• Labour blast SNP over decline in bus routes across ScotlandShadow transport secretary Louise Haigh has hit out at the 'staggering decline' in local bus services in Scotland as figures show almost two-fifths of routes have been axed since the SNP came to power.
• Stagecoach announces new Devon bus timetable shake-upNew bus timetables are being introduced across Devon next month with some Stagecoach services being extended, but others will be reduced. In Exeter, several bus services will be enhanced and extra journeys introduced in partnership with Devon County Council, and a number of high-frequency bus corridors will be introduced.
• Passengers on Wales’ most scenic railway line treated to new innovative travel guideThe Cambrian Line is one of the most attractive train journeys, with spectacular views making it a pleasure to watch the scenery outside the window go by.
• First look at West London's massive new Elizabeth line station that needs 1000 builders working at a timeWorking away on the western edge of the capital are thousands of men and women constructing what will be the UK’s biggest newly built train station. High Speed 2’s (HS2) Old Oak Common (OOC) station is currently 40 per cent through its more than £2.5 billion project to link together Great Western Railway (GWR) services to Birmingham and Manchester and Scotland, the Elizabeth line and the Heathrow Express.
• Bus timetable screens 'nowhere near bus stops' branded 'stupid'Plans to put digital public transport timetables in the middle of a pedestrian area away from where buses actually stop have been branded "stupid".
• Mystery over proposed bus gate in BiggleswadeWhen is a gate not a gate? When it apparently is labelled a bus gate, as Biggleswade town councillors learned after attempting to solve the mystery. A bus gate is planned for the town’s railway station interchange to prevent private vehicles parking in an area close to the building.
• HS2 workers 'staying in caravans' on rural Warwickshire campsiteThe claims have led to a delay in a decision on whether to allow the campsite owners let people stay for longer

Coach and Bus Week

• Channel Tunnel operator orders Enviro200s for terminal shuttlesAlexander Dennis is to supply six Enviro200 buses in a bespoke specification to LeShuttle, part of Getlink group. LeShuttle, which operates trains for road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel between terminals at Folkestone and Calais, runs freight shuttles for heavy goods vehicles in addition to car and coach services. On freight shuttles, drivers travel in a Club Car at the front of the train, and as LeShuttle trains are half a mile in length, the company uses a fleet of midibuses to take drivers along the platform from and to their lorries. As such, it plans to replace some of its older fleet of step-entrance vehicles with brand new low-emission, low-floor buses.
• The UK’s first internet-only coach operator turns 20On 11 August 20 years ago, the very first megabus service departed Oxford for London. Richard Sharman looks back at some of the milestones that made the company a household name in part one of our look at the blue and yellow brand
• Smoke and Mirrors on the MerseyAt a time when the franchising and funding of bus networks is increasingly under discussion, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s bus franchising assessment is significantly flawed, says Robert Montgomery
• Belt up with Birmingham BusworksJonathan Welch speaks to the team behind Birmingham Busworks to find out how the company is carving a niche for itself in bus sales and seatbelting
• ShuttleID launches free parent boarding notificationsSpecialist ticketing platform for schools and workplaces ShuttleID is offering its parent boarding notification feature to transport operators for free. The safeguarding feature has been designed to inform parents in real time when their child has boarded the school bus.

New Civil Engineer

• Why the rail sector needs to get ready for departure on the digital twin journeyRailways offer a “climate smart” way to keep our cities and countries moving. The question now is whether the rail and transit industry is ready to transform how networks will be planned, designed, built and operated in the future using digital twins.
• Network Rail ordered to pay £1.2M for ’wholly avoidable’ maintenance worker fatalityNetwork Rail has this week been ordered to pay £1.2M following the death of a maintenance worker in November 2020, but has said it has made efforts to improve safe working knowledge and procedures in the intervening years.

Rail Business Daily

• Get involved in Routes into RailNSAR is the driving force behind Routes into Rail – a rail industry initiative that aims to inspire a new generation of talent to pursue careers in rail. ... Existing funders include HS2, Network Rail, VolkerRail, Amey, RIA, Porterbrook, Freightliner and the Department for Business and Trade.
• All 100 FEA-G intermodal wagons and 50 JNA-X box wagons arrive in the UKThe final FEA-G intermodal wagons have now arrived in the UK, marking the successful delivery of a total 100 new intermodal wagons as well as 50 new JNA-X Box Wagons in a partnership between Porterbrook, GB Railfreight (GBRf) and Greenbrier.

Railtech

• Wales faces radical rail reviewRail services administered by Transport for Wales are simply unacceptable. That is the opinion of the nationalist leader in Wales, Mr Rhun ap Iorwerth. Speaking in the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff, he said there are serious issues with rail services run by Transport for Wales, the body appointed to administer transport operations by the devolved government. He claimed that damning figures revealed that four out of every ten trains in Wales is delayed, and the latest twelve months figures show a deteriorating picture.

Railway Gazette

• Siemens Mobility to supply 28 EMUs for Digital Node Stuttgart projectGERMANY: Siemens Mobility has been awarded a contract to supply electric multiple-units equipped for attended automated operation as part of the Digital Node Stuttgart pilot project within the Digital Schiene Deutschland (Digital Rail Germany) programme.

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• Adventure Travel aims job campaign at Wilko workersCardiff-based coach and bus operator Adventure Travel is targeting a driver-recruitment campaign towards staff at high street firm Wilko, which went into administration today.
• Liverpool CR bus franchising mauled by former Stagecoach MDPlans for bus franchising in the Liverpool City Region have been criticised by former Stagecoach UK Bus Managing Director Robert Montgomery. He describes the proposals as “bold on rhetoric and making a passable case for change,” but once beyond that says they “completely fall flat.”
• Contactless fraud issue raises its head in South YorkshireTravelMaster, which handles multi-operator and multi-modal ticket sales in South Yorkshire, says work on a resolution is ongoing after it decided to no longer accept contactless payments for some seven-day tickets due to fraud.
• Via to provide tech for TfL Dial-a-RideTransit tech company Via has announced it has been awarded a multi-year contract by Transport for London (TfL) to power its Dial-a-Ride service for people with long-term disabilities.

Green Miscellany

• Driving to France? Don’t forget the Crit’Air emissions sticker for your carAll cars travelling in 11 low emission French cities, including Paris, Lyon and Grenobles, – are required to display anti-pollution ’crit air’ stickers which indicate the age and environmental classification of the vehicle. The system has been in place for 6 years but has become stricter over time with the most polluting vehicles now restricted in some areas. The round… The post Driving to France? Don’t forget the Crit’Air emissions sticker for your car appeared first on ETA.

Other News Sources

• East Sussex bus services branded 'atrocious' by residents as proposals for improvements unveiledProposals to help make bus services more reliable, improve journey times and reduce congestion across East Sussex have been unveiled following numerous complaints from locals.
• Muirhead calls for 100% transparency on leather sourcing for the aviation industryMuirhead, a trusted supplier of low-carbon high performance leather to the aviation, bus, coach, and rail industries, is encouraging airlines and passenger transport operators to ensure each hide they procure can be traced back to its origins. The advice from Muirhead follows the emergence of leather suppliers whose products – despite being marketed as sustainable, ethical, and European – come from a complex and blurred supply chain, with hides imported from as far as South America.
• Newmarket to Haverhill bus route could start as soon as autumn if it wins enough supportPlans to reintroduce a bus service – which hasn’t run since 2007 – have been welcomed.
• Connecticut orders Alstom commuter coachesThe initial 60 coaches ordered under the framework contract will be deployed on the Hartford Line as well as branches of the New Haven Line.
• Siemens, Hitachi, Wabtec, and More Lead the Rail Asset Management Market, Poised to Reach $14.11 Billion by 2027The global rail asset management market grew from $10.51 billion in 2022 to $11.17 billion in 2023, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2%. The market is expected to grow to $14.11 billion in 2027, at a CAGR of 6.0%.
• Virgin Galactic successfully completes first space tourism flightA mother and her teenage daughter and an eighty year old former Olympian made history by blasting up into space today - on board Virgin Galactic's very first space tourism flight. 
• Brighton: Pedal bikes to return for bike hire schemePedal bikes will be rolled out across the city as part of the cycle hire scheme, as well as new cheaper pricing options

News from Europe

• Europe Rail Rolling Stock Report and Database 2023: Emerging Trends and Opportunities - ResearchAndMarkets.comThe first part of the report provides a succinct summary of the current trends and forecast for the European rail rolling stock industry.