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

Tuesday, 26 September 2023

Cogitamus

• The Chris Stokes Column - Britain's high infrastructure costs at heart of HS2's challengesThe fundamental problem with HS2 is that its capital costs are out of control.  The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are leaning towards the view that, if you can't afford the hole, stop digging. Extraordinarily high Infrastructure costs appear to be a particularly British problem.

BBC News

• London train costs to rise without day travelcard, charity warnsFamilies travelling to London by train will have to pay 16% more on average after the day travelcard is scrapped, a charity has warned.
• Hull: New accessible buses to improve transportYoung people with disabilities will benefit from 12 new accessible buses in Hull, the council has said.
• Chris Mason: Big decisions await as HS2 row simmers onThe PM might have hoped to make an HS2 announcement later this autumn - but that timetable has slipped.
• Electric vehicles: Lack of NI car chargers blamed on grid connection costsElectric motoring group tells BBC Spotlight grid connection costs to blame for poor charging network.
• Greater Manchester Bee Network a new dawn - mayorGreater Manchester is the first area outside London to have publicly regulated buses since the 1980s.
• Rail services disrupted after fire near Ayr stationEmergency services are dealing with the second blaze at the former Ayr Station Hotel in four months.
• Nissan to go all-electric by 2030 despite petrol ban delayThe carmaker moves ahead with its plan despite delays to the UK's ban on new petrol and diesel cars.
• HS2: What is the route and why could part of it be cancelled?The high-speed railway between London, the Midlands and North of England could be scaled back.
• HS2: Backlash against scrapping Manchester rail link growsAxing the high-speed rail leg would hit links between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, critics say.
• Gatwick cancels 82 flights due to staff shortagesThe airport will cancel some flights over the coming week after sickness hits air traffic controllers.

ITV News

• HS2 says construction work in Buckinghamshire is bringing ’real benefits to passengers today’
A major milestone in the construction of HS2 has been reached in the Thames Valley.
• Welsh Government says any changes to HS2 plans 'makes the case even clearer' for compensationThe Welsh Government has called on Westminster to reconsider the classification of the HS2 project, after reports the prime minister is considering axing plans for the Birmingham to Manchester leg.

Channel 4 News

• What is the HS2 row really about?Rishi Sunak has insisted he remains committed to his “levelling up” agenda – amid the growing row over the future of the HS2 high speed rail link to the North of England.

Financial Times

• Scrapping HS2 will damage trust in Britain, warn US buyers of Birmingham CityOwners of Tom Brady-backed football club say truncating rail line will shake investor confidence
• Why has Leeds, birthplace of the tram, ground to a halt?For decades, the council has failed to return light rail to the largest city in western Europe without a mass transit system

The Guardian

• Gatwick restricts flight numbers for week amid air traffic control problemsAirport will share 164 cancellations between airlines until Sunday as it seeks to avoid diversions
• Sunak may seek to limit HS2 fallout with new transport projects in northSources suggest PM could announce new spending on bus, tram and train schemes if he decides to axe part of HS2. Rishi Sunak could announce a series of transport improvements for the north of England including bringing forward the high-speed link between Manchester and Leeds as he seeks to limit the political fallout over the future of HS2.Government sources suggested the prime minister still planned to press ahead with a proposal to axe the Birmingham to Manchester link of HS2 despite a furious response and Tory fears that it would fatally undermine their commitment to levelling up.
• Even HS2's defenders are abandoning it. Rishi Sunak, it's time to follow suit | Simon JenkinsOnly political expediency has kept this terrible mistake on the rails. Pull the brakes – and save Britain billionsThis week there are to be two HS2s. The first is a truly rotten infrastructure project. The second is a political icon of awesome potency. They have absolutely nothing in common.From its conception in 2009, HS2 was a dud: a Labour government glamour project revived by the Cameron government in the hope it might counterbalance its plans for extreme local austerity. The coalition eventually landed on a proposal bizarrely linking two dead-end terminuses, Birmingham’s Curzon Street and...
• Abolishing HS2 and inheritance tax? Rish! would not speculate on speculation he startedFor far too long Rishi Sunak had been held back by successive Tory governments. Time for some unspecified actionThat Inaction Man jibe had really hurt. Rishi Sunak had come back from that prime minister's questions in a right strop. After all he had done for the country, the sacrifices he had made, how dare the country be so ungrateful.

The Independent

• Cabinet split over Sunak’s HS2 ’gross act of vandalism’Exclusive: Levelling up secretary Michael Gove and transport secretary Mark Harper ’very unhappy’ over plan to axe northern leg – first revealed by this newspaper – as George Osborne attacks ’economic self-harm’
• Covid flight cancellations are back as thousands grounded after virus hits Gatwick air-traffic controllersAn estimated 8,000 passengers were left out of position

Times Online

• Rishi Sunak alarmed by runaway cost of HS2. [subscription]Project’s finances said to be ’far worse than anyone knows’ but more senior Tories warn against curtailing route
• Gatwick cancels hundreds of flights as air traffic controllers go sick. [subscription]Passengers flying from Gatwick are facing disruption this week as bosses have been forced to limit flights due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.
• Nissan to sell only electric cars by 2030. [subscription]The boss of Nissan, Britain’s largest car manufacturer, has pledged to only sell electric vehicles in the UK by 2030 and said “the world needs to move on” from engine cars, in an implicit rebuke to the government’s decision to delay a ban on petrol and diesel cars.

Reuters News

• German transport minister rejects punitive tariffs in EU's China EV probeBERLIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) - German Transport Minister Volker Wissing has rejected possible punitive tariffs as a result of the European Commission's investigation into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.

City AM

• Scrapping HS2 will sabotage all of our efforts to level up cities across the UK Scrapping the wholeof HS2 now would be an example of another famous characteristic of British statecraft: short term Treasury-driven decision making.

i News

• Northern Tories fear for election as Rishi Sunak mulls plans to scrap or delay Manchester HS2 linkTory MPs in northern seats have warned the Prime Minister against scrapping the rest of HS2
• ’Entrenching inequality’: Justine Greening, ex-Tory minister behind HS2, condemns plan to axe Manchester legCancelling the northern leg of HS2 would be a “hugely anti-levelling up step” which would worsen the UK’s existing inequalities, the minister who originally signed off on the project has warned Rishi Sunak.
• Abandoning HS2 shows just how hollow the Tories' 'levelling up' promises wereIt would be a financial, social and geopolitical catastrophe were it to be compromised at this point

Mail Online

• Why Qantas staff say morale at the airline 'has never been lower'Qantas pilots are calling for the airline's chairman to resign after declaring pilot morale has 'never been lower' following a tumultuous few months for the national carrier.

The National

• Scotland has 'little hope' of seeing HS2 benefits in 'unequal Union'SCOTLAND has “little hope” of ever seeing the benefits of HS2, an MP has claimed, as speculation mounts that the final line will never connect London with Manchester.

Birmingham Post

• Nissan ignores Sunak electric vehicle delay and commits to 2030 deadlineJapanese car manufacturer had already set off on multimillion-plans to ramp up electric vehicle manufacturing at its Sunderland plant

Bristol Live

• Derelict part of Temple Meads will reopen as part of huge regenerationDerelict rooms at Bristol Temple Meads will reopen as shops and public facilities as part of a lengthy restoration project. Network Rail is refurbishing and restoring the train station's giant roof built in the 1870s as well as a wider programme of changes across the train station.
• Bristol underground plans ruled out by Metro Mayor Dan NorrisA leading business group in the West of England has called for proposals for ‘an ambitious and green’ public transport system for the region to be brought forward
• Bristol Airport announces 'transformational' £60m public transport hub projectThe work is expected to take around 18 months to complete

Daily Post (North Wales)

• What the 20mph report cited by Wales's biggest ever protest petition actually saysThe petition calling for the new 20mph to be scrapped has more than 420,000 signatures

Liverpool Echo

• Merseyrail commuters ask 'why' as they issue demand over trainsThe ECHO has been surveying commuters on their local train services

Manchester Evening News

• Minister in charge of local transport confuses Stockport with town 124 miles awayA Conservative minister has been mocked for confusing Stockport with a town 124 miles away while on a planned visit. Labour's Stockport MP Navendu Mishra shared a picture of the embarrassing mishap made in an email by Conservative MP Richard Holden - the roads and local transport minister no less.

Wales Online

• Bristol Airport starts work on huge £60m transformationThousands of Welsh holidaymakers use the airport every year

Yorkshire Post

• Doncaster Sheffield Airport: ’Light at end of tunnel’ in saga over mothballed airport, says mayorSouth Yorkshire’s mayor has said the Doncaster Sheffield Airport “saga” was caused by the company that ran the site but now he thinks “there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”.

Other Regional Press

• Rishi Sunak HS2 comments spark 'live Watford scenes' jibesNews of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declining to commit to building HS2 to the North today has spawned ridicule on social media.
• £140m bid to make Coventry first all-electric bus city takes huge step forwardThe aim is to ensure every bus in Coventry is zero-emission by 2025

New Civil Engineer

• Gatwick begins procurement for fresh £60M design framework agreementLondon Gatwick Airport (LGA) has launched a tender notice for a new £60M design framework agreement covering a number of civil and structural disciplines.

Rail Advent

• Union urges Tory MPs to speak out against ticket office closure plansA transport union has contacted Conservative members of parliament asking them to oppose plans to close most railway ticket offices in England.

Railtech

• SNCF’s new ’Botox programme’ to increase TGV services104 French high-speed trains will be getting a facelift. SNCF Voyageurs and its rolling stock division are launching the ’Botox Programme’ to optimise the use and lifespan of their existing trains. This will include mid-life or end-of-life refurbishment to extend their service life and combat obsolescence, recycling and re-use of spare parts.

Railway Gazette

• ’Fragile’ Railcoop plans restructuring to secure investmentFRANCE: Open access co-operative Railcoop is planning to split into two companies in the wake of its decision to cease running freight trains and ahead of the launch of its planned Lyon – Bordeaux passenger service.
• Transport Committee sets out criteria for regulations on minimum service levels during rail strikesUK: The House of Commons Transport Committee has published a report outlining what it says the government should include in future regulations requiring railway companies to provide minimum service levels during strikes.

Railway Technology

• Poland’s Pesa signs rolling stock deal in RomaniaThe manufacturer will expand its Romanian operations with the deal, building on its recent European success in the Czech Republic.

Shipping News

• Sustainable ferries: Making maritime transport greenerEurope’s ferry industry has a sustainability problem. While the sector makes a significant contribution to the European Union’s economy, generating upwards of €9bn a year, it has also become a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. One solution? Electric ferries.

Other News Sources

• Mark Bostock has been proved totally right about HS2It is hard to imagine a greater procurement disaster than HS2, the transformative high speed rail line between London and Scotland, currently being axed bit by bit, as the costs go through the roof.
• Avanti West Coast Unveils Livery for Class 805 TrainsAvanti West Coast has unveiled the new livery for its fleet of Class 805 trains, which are currently undergoing main line testing.