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

Saturday, 20 January 2024

BBC News

• Japan Airlines appoints ex-flight attendant as first female presidentMitsuko Tottori joined the flag carrier as a flight attendant in 1985, before working her way up.

Department for Transport

• The Great British Rail Sale returns: discounts on over a million rail ticketsDiscounted rail ticket prices will apply to journeys between 30 January and 15 March 2024 across England and Wales.

Financial Times

• CMA CGM hit by scheduling chaos as attacks disrupt Red Sea shippingFrench group is still sending some vessels through Suez Canal when accompanied by French navy

The Guardian

• UK train tickets: the great rail sale is on – but is there a catch?One million tickets are up for grabs at up to half-price to encourage people back to the train but don’t get too excited
• Why are Teslas batteries dying in the cold?Freezing temperatures across central US have cut electric vehicles range and left drivers facing long waits at charging stations.

Daily Record

• Scots rail maintenance workers to strike for five days in dispute over pay riseEmployees at Craigentinny, near Edinburgh, are at loggerheads with bosses over pay.

The Mirror

• Train ticket office staff 'actively discouraged from offering passengers cheapest fares'Websites such as Trainline promote split fares, which cut travel costs by using more than one ticket for a journey, while most machines do not

Birmingham Post

• Northern Mayors call on Government to drop Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill and to invest in green technologiesLiverpool metro mayor says UK needs 'commitment to ambitious, forward-thinking investment in renewable energy'

Bristol Live

• Bristol Clean Air Zone is pushing more cars on to nearby roads ‘as expected’Two roads in particular - in St Pauls and Totterdown - are thought to have suffered badly

Daily Post (North Wales)

• A55 junction works involving three busy roundabouts will see disruption and diversionsActive travel links will be improved under the project

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Lumo unveils plans to carry 277,000 extra train passengers between London and NewcastleThe plan is to operate an additional return journey every day between Newcastle and London, which could also lead to new jobs for the firm

Northern Echo

• Department for Transport offers hope over Newton Aycliffe 'crisis'The Government has hit back at claims that it has abandoned the Hitachi factory at Newton Aycliffe, leaving it to slide towards an order book crisis.

Cambridge News

• The disused Cambs railway station set to be moved stone by stone to new siteThe building has been boarded up and abandoned for years after being used as a home for a period of time
• Most Huntingdon roads could have 20mph speed limits under new plansThe council hopes the move will result in a "safer environment for all road users"

Get Surrey

• SWR engineering works will see 6 stations near Woking shut this weekendEngineering works will impact train journeys at eight Surrey stations

Other Regional Press

• UK rail tickets to see discounts in Great British Rail SaleOver a million discounted train tickets will be available as the Great British Rail Sale returns.
• How TfL could charge you more for Tube and bus journeys despite Sadiq Khan's fare freezeNational Rail prices will go up in March, but TfL's are set to stay the same
• Rail delays caused by these big tunnel icicles in ColwallTHESE are the big icicles in a tunnel which caused delays for rail passengers as they closed the line between Worcester and Hereford.
• Airport bosses urged to act on 'promise' and offer new base to evicted aircraft ownersThe DTVA Private Aircraft Owners organisation was ordered to vacate its hangar home at the airport in 2021
• Now even fewer people will use new £40m railway stationParking charges have been brought in at a controversial £40 million railway station, sparking claims it will result in even fewer people using it.
• School transport costs could hit term-time cost of £1 million a weekSCHOOL transport costs in Dorset could be heading for a term-time cost of £1million a week “ unless savings are found.* Over two years the expense of running the service has risen by £12million and now exceeds £35million over a full year.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Hydrogen Electrolyser installed at Amazon fulfilment centrePlug Power has completed installation of an electrolyser system at an Amazon fulfilment centre in Aurora, Colorado. The one-megawatt proton exchange membrane electrolyser is producing low-carbon hydrogen on site to fuel over 225 hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklift trucks, marking the first such system for Amazon. The Plug electrolyser uses electricity and water to generate hydrogen, supporting up to 400 forklifts. The on-site hydrogen production will be compressed and stored in a tank for the truck refuelling, avoiding emissions from traditional hydrogen transportation.

Rail Business Daily

• hyperTunnel is granted funding to build an underpass at GCREhyperTunnel has been successful in winning UK government funding for standout railway innovations at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE). hyperTunnel’s underpass is one of 16 schemes that will be demonstrated at GCRE’s Dulais Valley site in South Wales in 2024.

Railnews

• Clash looms over minimum service law as ASLEF calls more strikes ASLEF has called another five days of 24-hour strikes on LNER from 5 to 9 February, in what could be the first direct challenge to the new minimum service levels law, which requires a set percentage of staff to continue working during strikes. ASLEF has already called rolling strikes for a week from 30 January, which will affect most operators in England for one day. As well as the new LNER walkouts in early February, ASLEF drivers will also refuse to work any non-contractual overtime from 7 to 10 February.

Other News Sources

• One Big Circle wins Innovate UK’s ’First of a Kind’ project third year in a rowWinners of the ’First of a Kind’ (FOAK) competition for ’Reliable and Maintainable Assets Rail Demonstrations’, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK KTN, were announced at the end of 2023, and this year sees them progressing to deliver their innovations.