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

Thursday, 07 September 2023

BBC News

• Stonehaven crash: Network Rail accused of failing to warn driverNetwork Rail has been accused of failing to warn a train driver that the track was unsafe before a fatal derailment near Stonehaven in 2020.
• New 20mph speed limit will save lives - Mark DrakefordFirst minister insists road deaths will fall, 10 days before Wales' lower limit comes into force.
• Ryanair boss calls air traffic chaos report rubbishThe UK's air traffic control system shut itself down after software confusion over an unusual flight path.

Financial Times

• UK aviation regulator to review failure of air traffic control systemCAA to report on logic error over August bank holiday as airlines call for their costs to be covered

The Guardian

• Night train between Berlin and Paris to return after nine yearsAustrian rail operator ÖBB says service will resume partly in December and daily from October 2024A night train linking Berlin and Paris will return in December, nine years after the service was cancelled, the Austrian rail operator ÖBB has announced.ÖBB has been a pioneer in bringing back night trains as Europeans look for low-carbon travel options. Continue reading...

The Herald

• Cairngorm railway shut for safety reasons to be sidelined for weeksHighlands and Islands Enterprise took the decision to withdraw the Cairngorm funicular railway from service on August 25 while a series of 'snagging' works were carried out.

Times Online

• E-bikes threaten Amsterdam’s standing as cycling capital of the world. [subscription]Amsterdam is considered the cycling capital of the world but its cyclists are becoming increasingly fearful of faster and heavier electric bicycles.
• Railway sinners get on the right track. [subscription]An Operator of Last Resort sounds a bit desperate. Like the England rugby team picking Marcus Smith at full back, a position he has never played. Or Rishi Sunak running the country with no mandate from the electorate, let alone his own party.

City AM

• Hapag-Lloyd chief warns of ’rougher seas ahead’ for container shippingHapag-Lloyd’s chief executive warned of “rough seas ahead,” as a combination of tumbling freight rates and a slump in demand pummels major container shipping groups’ bottom lines.
• Transpennine Success? Tory minister defends nationalising rail operatorRail Minister Huw Merriman has said that nationalising Transpennine Express was the right decision after cancellation rates fell dramatically at the troubled rail service.

Network Rail

• Network Rail to carry out essential track renewals in 170-year-old Dinmore Tunnel to improve reliability between Hereford and ShrewsburyBuses will replace trains between Hereford and Shrewsbury during a nine-day closure on the Marches Line between Tuesday 12 September to Thursday 21 September as teams work around the clock to renew the track and ballast inside the historic tunnel. 
• Northern City Line proved ready for digitally signalled passenger serviceNetwork Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have successfully demonstrated that the recently installed digital signalling system on the Northern City Line, between Finsbury Park and Moorgate, is ready for passenger service. This is a significant milestone for the first phase of the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP).

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• How much Bradford's Clean Air Zone has made in fines and chargesBradford Council has sent out almost 129,000 penalty fines to drivers using non-compliant vehicles in the Clean Air Zone (CAZ).

London Evening Standard

• Ticket office closures row: London train firms reveal they have stopped hiring new counter staffWatchdog receives 180,000 responses to plans to close booking offices in capital

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Whitley Bay Metro station's £5m renovation set to restart after buyout of collapsed firm's rail divisionThe project to refurbish the historic glass roof at the station was plunged into doubt when it emerged last month that the Buckingham Group was on the brink of administration.

The York Press

• York bus company to maintain at-risk routes around the cityA City of York Council executive member says the authority's relationship with First York could stabilise the city’s bus network in response to threatened timetable reductions.

Other Regional Press

• Isle of Wight bus firm Southern Vectis using London busesDelays mean Southern Vectis' new Isle of Wight buses will not arrive until the end of next month (October).
• New Herefordshire and marches railway plan discussed by MPsRADICAL improvements to local railways in Herefordshire have been discussed in Westminster. MPs, local businesses, councils, the Welsh Government, Midlands Connect and Network Rail were among those who met together in Westminster this week as part of a campaign to improve road and rail links in Herefordshire and the surrounding area.
• Delay to decision to dual A1 disappointing and surprising, Northumberland County Council leader saysThe Conservative leader of Northumberland County Council has slammed the government over the latest delay in the long-running saga around plans to dual the A1, and claimed the current state of the road belongs in the 1950s.
• West Wales railway stations remain stuck at bottom leagueRAIL disruption continues to be a real problem across the UK, with Wales trailing behind. Recent data shows that Wales has the highest cancellation rate for trains in the UK, with 20 out of 25 worst performing stations.
• Petition to save Spalding Railway Station ticket office on the right tracks?A councillor is urging people ’there is still time to get on board’ with a petition to save Spalding train station’s ticket office.
• Heathrow runway maintenance sparks nighttime noise concerns among West London residentsRunway maintenance at Heathrow lasting three years will cause "unacceptable levels of noise at nighttime" for West London residents, say campaigners. The UK's busiest airport is making routine repairs to its runways which take place every 10 years causing changes to flight patterns, especially at night.
• Eurostar: We want to stop in Kent again - but can't afford it yet!Eurostar says it wants to bring its services back to Kent – but is hampered by hundreds of millions of pounds of Covid debt and the impact of Brexit.

Rail Advent

• ’World-first’ in environmental standards achieved by Hitachi RailThe global transport solution provider has attained the PAS 2080 carbon reduction standard for its fully electric HS2 fleet.

Rail Magazine

• TransPennine Express to axe Novas ’3s’After months of speculation, TransPennine Express has confirmed that its troubled ’Nova 3’ diesel-powered trains will be withdrawn at the December timetable change. 

Rail Technology Magazine

• Successful tests show MagRail can operate on existing rail infrastructure Nevomo has successfully tested its MagRail technology on existing railway infrastructure for the first time. The tests, which were conducted on a more than 720-metre-long section of  test track in Poland, demonstrated that railway vehicles can operate on existing railway infrastructure without any friction. 

Rail-News.com

• Passenger Experience and Decarbonisation – The Same Thing?There were two main topics of conversation at Rolling Stock Networking (RSN), which took place in Derby, UK in July this year.

Railway Technology

• UK rail operators should make ticket notifications clearer says ORRThe organisation said that almost 2 million notifications had been sent this year but they were not always clear enough on passenger rights.
• Hitachi Rail announces new tram service in TurinUnder the terms of the deal, Turin will receive and initial 30 trams, with an overall delivery of 70 locomotives by 2024.

Transportxtra

• Network Rail brings in two new regional MDsNetwork Rail has appointed two regional managing directors to lead the Southern and North West & Central regions. Ellie Burrows is the new permanent regional managing director for Network Rail’s Southern region while Eastern region managing director Rob McIntosh has been appointed as the new regional managing director for the North West & Central region. 

Other News Sources

• Shipping needs 40% of global zero carbon fuels to meet 2030 targetAs much as two-fifths of all carbon neutral fuels produced in 2030 will be needed to meet the needs of the shipping sector according to DNV’s latest Maritime Forecast 2050 published today.
• Shipping needs to pull out all the stops in critical decade, DNV saysClassification society suggests onboard carbon capture and storage and nuclear propulsion as potential solutions as emissions regulations tighten
• Cambridgeshire: Planned rail ticket office closures challengedCambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority have voiced their "deep concerns" on behalf of station users, especially vulnerable travellers, over the proposed scrapping of railway ticket offices.
• Heathrow could be getting a brand-new rail link to south-west LondonGetting to Heathrow can be a real slog. While access to the airport was improved for people across central, east and west of the capital when the Lizzie line opened last May (meaning we’d no longer have to drag our suitcases up and down all those stairs on the Piccadilly Line), it could still be made easier – especially for south-west Londoners. 
• Siemens To Invest $30 Million To Train U.S. EV Charger TechniciansThe Siemens Foundation said on Wednesday it will make a $30-million, 10-year investment in workforce development in the United States focused on the fast-growing electric vehicle charging sector where tens of thousands of workers will be needed this decade.