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

Thursday, 24 August 2023

BBC News

• Plans lodged for new Torquay railway stationNetwork Rail has filed an official planning application for a new railway station near Torquay.
• Eryri cycling route created taking people off-roadThe route features ascents four times the height of Wales' highest peak when combined.
• Drivers face tougher sentences for killing pedestriansDeaths of cyclists and other vulnerable road users could also incur longer sentences under new guidelines.
• Our bus service was cancelled so we started our ownResidents of a Perthshire village set up their own bus company after losing their local service.
• Strangford to Portaferry ferry service resumesThe service was suspended when vessels developed an electronic fault and a mechanical problem.
• Bus drivers happier if passengers say hello - surveyA pilot in west London urges passengers to greet bus drivers, resulting in a small positive impact.
• Death of bus driver in East Ayrshire crash treated as murderGordon Stirling died five days after being involved in a collision with a van on the A77 near Fenwick.

Department for Transport

• CMA updates scope of concerns in rail signalling mergerUpdated provisional findings have been issued by the CMA in its investigation of Hitachi’s proposed takeover of Thales GTS.

Financial Times

• Italy is flying in the wrong direction with price cap plansBut airlines’ failure to understand their disgruntled customers is making the policy a vote winner

The Independent

• ’Politically charged’ option of closing rail network sections suggested in 2000Government officials suggested examining the “politically charged” option of closing parts of Northern Ireland’s rail network after safety concerns were raised in 2000, newly declassified files have revealed.

Times Online

• Costain plans to restart paying dividends after four-year break. [subscription]Costain has shrugged off high-profile policy reversals on road and rail construction to report a burgeoning cash pile and pledged to start repaying dividends after a four-year drought.
• Watchdog signals go on Hitachi Tube deal [subscription]Two years after Hitachi Rail, the Japanese group, thought it had pulled off a €1.7 billion takeover of the rail signalling interests of Thales, the deal has been cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority.
• 90% of Ulez cameras put out of action in new area. [subscription]Nearly nine in ten cameras set to enforce the expanded ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) have been stolen or damaged in southeast London as “white van man” makes it the centre of resistance to Sadiq Khan’s plans.

City AM

• CMA: Hitachi takeover of Thales’ rail signalling unit won’t impact London Tube projectsHitachi’s £1.4bn takeover of Thales’ rail signalling business won’t impact competition in the market for supplying signalling systems for the London Underground, the UK’s antitrust agency said today.
• Great British Railways is a hit. So why is the government not delivering it? The future of the proposed Great British Railways (GBR), one of the biggest planned shake-ups of Britain’s rail sector in decades, is at a crossroads.  

Daily Record

• Death of Scots bus driver after crash being treated as murderGordon Stirling, 23, died following the collision near to the junction with the A719 for Galston at around 5.30pm on Monday, August 14.

Mail Online

• Londoners snap up classic cars to dodge ULEZ: Dealers see surge in interest for older models as capital braces for expansion of £12.50 zoneDealers across the capital have noted a surge in sales of cars manufactured before 1983, which are exempt from the £12.50 charge as they are classed as 'historic vehicles'.

The Mirror

• Tories told to come clean as whistleblower admits rail ticket office cull is to cut costsMinisters have insisted the changes are being made to free up railway station staff so they can help passengers, but the Mirror can reveal it's really a cost-saving plan

Office of Rail and Road (ORR)

• Declan Collier reappointed ORR ChairTransport Secretary, Mark Harper, has today announced that Declan Collier is to be reappointed as Chair of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for a further five-year term.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Supermarket chain quits Dudley town after row over bus station planA town centre supermarket is to close next month as a result of plans for a new bus station.

Other Regional Press

• Manea railway station's new car park offers free parkingThe free Fenland District Council car park opened earlier this month. Cllr Chris Seaton, portfolio holder for transport, said: “People can now park at Manea station free-of-charge and travel to destinations near and far – not only Cambridge, Ely and Peterborough but on to the wider country.
• Rail ticket office considered for closure despite being region’s fourth busiestTHE TICKET office at Tunbridge Wells station is among those to be considered for closure as part of planned cutbacks, despite being one of the most-used in the whole of the Southeastern network.
• Redditch MP raises concerns about proposed ticket office closureA number of residents have written to the town’s MP and she said she would be ensuring their voices were heard by taking part in the consultation on the changes.
• Opinion: Will East Anglia's train network ever recover?No industry was more badly hit by the pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn than the railways.
• Funding accepted to start planning transport improvements worth £4.5m in and around Mumps areaOldham Council has secured £675,000 of funding to start planning work on a major project to improve transport in and around Mumps.
• Transport minister’s NorthLink remarks branded ’stupid’Transport minister Fiona Hyslop has been criticised by councillors after she claimed the lack of available accessible cabins on NorthLink was not her “responsibility.”
• Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for transport has said he welcomes the rise in dockless e-bikesSadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for transport has said he welcomes the rise in dockless e-bikes for boosting cycling in the capital – despite a sharp decline in the usage of Transport for London’s (TfL) own hire scheme.
• Illegal nuisance e-bikes seized from riders in swoop on Coventry city centreOne was almost three times over the legal wattage limit

Train Operators

• Dozens more body-worn cameras to be used across Leeds by Northern staff to tackle anti-social behaviourNorthern is introducing dozens more body-worn cameras for staff working at Leeds station – and more than 50 will be used across Yorkshire as part of a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour.

New Civil Engineer

• Mott MacDonald appointed for feasibility study to reopen Sutton Oak line on MerseysideSt Helens Borough Council on Merseyside has appointed Mott MacDonald to carry out feasibility studies to reopen the abandoned Sutton Oak line and called for funds for other rail improvements in the area.
• New research shows coffee could boost concrete strength by 30%Researchers at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT University) in Australia have revealed that adding used coffee grounds in place of some sand content could make concrete up to 30% stronger.

Rail Advent

• Network Rail puts three Class 73 locomotives up for saleNetwork Rail is offering its three remaining Class 73 diesel-electric locomotives for sale in two tenders:
• Alstom to implement European Train Control System in IrelandIrish Rail (Iarnród Éireann) is to implement the European Train Control System (ETCS) signalling system 62 km of the rail line from Mallow to Cork, Cobh and Midleton.
• Northern provides West Yorkshire railway staff with more body camerasThe introduction of more body-worn cameras for its staff members comes as part of the rail operator's bid to deal with anti-social behaviour
• Class 66 locomotives named in GB Railfreight ceremonyLast month, (16th July) GB Railfreight hosted its Ladies Naming Ceremony which celebrates both hard work and dedication in the company.

Rail Magazine

• The last bastion of the HST ’CastlesIconic is often an overused and even abused word in railway writing. But for the High Speed Train (or InterCity 125), if you are of a certain vintage, the word is most certainly apt. 

The Business Desk

• Key contract wins fuel growth at transport tech groupTracsis, a transport technology provider, expects its group revenue to have increased by about 19% to over £81.5m (2022: £68.7m) in a trading update for the year ended 31 July 2023.

Other News Sources

• TfL working on installing more toilets across London Underground as commuters get stuck in loo 'deserts'Campaigners say the elderly are often kept on a 'loo leash' when travelling around the capital
• ’We can always weather local challenges’ – why Grimshaw is unfazed by HS2’s Euston delayThe firm’s chairman Andrew Whalley says its three-year growth strategy “needed an edit” after the decision to mothball its biggest UK project, but the impact has not been as great as you might think. Tom Lowe reports.
• New action in battle to reopen defunct Horsham to Guildford rail lineNew action is being planned by campaigners in a fight to reopen the former Horsham to Guildford railway line which has been shut since the 1960s.
• Tracsis credits Rail, Data arms for double-digit annual revenue growthTracsis PLC on Wednesday said business met its expectations in the recent financial year, with double-digit revenue growth. The Leeds, England-based traffic and transportation data services firm said it performed in line with its expectations in the 12 months that ended July 31, and it estimates revenue rose by around 19% to GBP81.5 million from GBP68.7 million the year before.
• Isle of Wight bus ticket price rises announced by Southern VectisThe cost of catching a bus on the Isle of Wight is to rise for the third time in less than two years.
• Funding accepted to start planning transport improvements worth £4.5mOldham Council has secured £675,000 of funding to start planning work on a major project to improve transport in and around Mumps.
• HS2’s demand for UK recycled steel supports hundreds of jobs while cutting carbon in constructionOld car parts, radiators and shopping trolleys are being given a new lease of life in the construction of Britain’s new railway – HS2. The UK recycled steel initiative, which is helping HS2 to cut carbon in construction, is also supporting hundreds of jobs in South Wales, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.
• Drivers at Greater Manchester Accessible Transport forced to strike over ’poverty pay’.Bus drivers in Greater Manchester who transport the elderly and disabled have been forced to take strike action over the low pay by Greater Manchester Accessible Transport (GMAT).
• Skipton and East Lancashire Rail Partnership blasts Transport for North’s latest strategyThe Skipton and East Lancashire Rail Partnership (SELRAP) have reported that ’East Lancashire has been shunted aside by Transport for the North' after the group studied the statutory sub-national transport bodies' latest strategy.

News from Europe

• South France: Heat sparks pollution alert, public transport made freeMotorway speeds are also being limited and some cruiseship stopovers are banned in a bid to reduce air pollution
• Germany’s cheap public transport ticket an ineffective climate tool: ReportGermany’s new monthly €49 offer for all regional public transport will have little impact on the transport sector’s carbon emissions so the country will continue to fail its climate targets for transport and beyond, according to an expert council advising the government.