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

Friday, 26 January 2024

BBC News

• New bus services proposed for cityNew and extended bus services have been proposed as part of plans to revamp public transport in Stoke-on-Trent.
• Cambridgeshire tax increase could pay for £1 fares and new bus routesA council tax precept could be increased to subsidise bus fares for under-25s and pay for new bus routes.
• Birthday bus scheme benefitting richest people more than poorestA controversial birthday bus scheme is benefitting the richest people in the region significantly more than the poorest, councillors have been told.
• 'Bee-friendly' bus stops being installed in Derby city centreNew "bee-friendly" bus stops are to be installed to try to improve the environment in Derby city centre.
• Manchester Piccadilly: Power restored after train disruptionEngineers have repaired the problem with overhead wires near Manchester Piccadilly railway station.
• Sadiq Khan accused of misleading London Assembly over £30m Tube dealSadiq Khan is under fire over statements made about £30m offered to unions to avert a Tube strike.
• Tube: Central line train failures set to cause problems for monthsThe 30-year-old fleet is among the least reliable and is set to cause issues for months, TfL warns.
• HS2: Mayors to meet minister about alternativesNew plans for a privately funded alternative to HS2's now-scrapped Birmingham to Manchester section will be presented to the transport secretary next week. Birmingham's mayor Andy Street told the BBC that he and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham will meet with Mark Harper to discuss bringing in the private sector.
• Warning EU border system has lasting Ferry firms and Dover port warn business and communities would suffer from new EU border checks.
• GM-owned Cruise admits failures in driverless car accidentFederal prosecutors are investigating its driverless car unit, Cruise.
• Alaska Airlines warns of £118m Boeing blowout costThe troubles at Boeing are spilling over to the rest of the industry.
• Tesla: Electric carmaker's shares slide after Musk warns of slowdownThe electric carmaker's shares fell by more than 12% in New York trading on Thursday.

Financial Times

• Regulator blocks expanded production of Boeing's 737 Max Head of FAA says it won't be back to business as usual for plane maker
• Airlines call for accountability over Boeings quality problemsUS carriers spell out hit to profits from unacceptable Max 9 groundings and delivery delays

The Guardian

• Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens wrongly fined for driving in London UlezExclusive: EU states accuse TfL of huge data breach over clean air zone penalties, with many given to compliant vehicles

The Independent

• Third electric London bus catches fire after two burst into flames earlier this monthAn electric bus has caught fire in London, making it the third to burst into flames in the capital this month.

The National

• Scottish Government invests £1.7m to boost West Highland Line capacityTHE Scottish Government has invested £1.7 million to improve train capacity on the iconic West Highland Line.

Birmingham Post

• Airbus and BAE Systems among industry giants to sign new commitment to keep 'Britain safe'"We must work together to strengthen our defences [and] support our armed forces"

London Evening Standard

• Hundreds of electric buses having safety checks after one bursts into flames inside south-west London depotFootage posted online on Wednesday showed a vehicle burning inside Putney Bus Garage - the third electric bus to catch fire in recent weeks

Manchester Evening News

• Rail travel in Greater Manchester deemed 'worse now than eight years ago' - as train bosses asked to give 'cast iron' improvement guaranteesThe MD of Avanti West Coast issued a public apology after Andy Burnham said services in December 'collapsed'
• 'If we can't make it work safely, we can't make it work', bosses say ahead of bikes on Metrolink trams trial'It would be nice to think we've got Metrolink into every borough before we spend huge sums of money on this'
• Trains between Manchester Piccadilly and the Airport will be disrupted ALL DAYServices may be cancelled or delayed

South Wales Argus

• HS2 money could transform Carmarthenshire says MP candidateMONEY from the HS2 line could transform railways in Carmarthenshire according to a Plaid Cymru councillor.

Other Regional Press

• North Yorkshire bus passenger numbers still below covid levelsBus passenger numbers in North Yorkshire remain below covid levels, a council report has revealed.
• North Wales transport could see improvements after £1bn fundA £1bn allocation could bring "much needed" improvements to transport links in North Wales and the North West.
• COUNCILLORS and rail campaigners in Culcheth are keeping a close watch on developments following reports that the controversial HS2 high speed railway line could be revived in the North.COUNCILLORS and rail campaigners in Culcheth are keeping a close watch on developments following reports that the controversial HS2 high speed railway line could be revived in the North.
• Uber in talks to launch in AberdeenTRANSPORT giant Uber has confirmed that it plans to apply for a licence to operate in Aberdeen this year.

British Trams Online

• New Tyne and Wear Metro depot completedThe redeveloped Gosforth Depot – home to the trains of the Tyne and Wear Metro since opening in the 1980s and before that a railway depot – has been officially finished by Stadler. Described as a state of the art depot the new facility boosts enviable green credentials and a range of innovative features which will help to ensure maximum availability and reliability of the fleet for decades to come.

Bus and Coach Buyer

• Four new Panthers added to Reading Buses’ new Heathrow serviceReading Buses has received four new Plaxton Panthers to its fleet for a new service to London Heathrow airport. The Panthers are wheelchair-accessible with side-mounted lifts. They have been finished to a high standard with wood-effect flooring, comfortable seating and ample legroom, free WiFi and USB charging at all of their 53 passenger seats.
• New ioki Route designed to ease rail replacement and bus routesioki, a tech company specialising in digital public transport, is launching a product designed to simplify the navigation and route management of buses and rail replacement services.

New Civil Engineer

• Mayor ’very confident’ of enhanced rail north of Birmingham as HS2 Curzon Street works startThe West Midlands mayor has said he is “very confident” there will be rail improvements between Birmingham and Manchester and is expecting to submit a proposal government this summer.

Rail Advent

• Hope Valley Railway Upgrade nearing completionSignificant track and signalling work was carried out last weekend on the Hope Valley Railway Upgrade between Manchester and Sheffield to bring it a step nearer completion.

Rail UK

• New British Steel rail stocking facility will boost Network Rail supply chainBritish Steel is building a new £10 million rail stocking facility, the biggest of its kind in the country. The facility, at the company’s Scunthorpe site, is scheduled to be completed this summer and will stock around 25,000 tonnes of 108-metre finished rail.

Railtech

• Spanish consortium Hympulso tackles hydrogen-power for high-speed railHympulso, a consortium of ten Spanish companies has joined forces to pioneer the adaptation of hydrogen propulsion in a high-speed train. The initiative is part of the Strategic Projects for Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen, and Storage (PERTE) program. It aims to develop a new hydrogen and battery-powered technical car for a Talgo 250 train.
• Alstom to provideDB Regio with 18 modern Coradia Max trainsAlstom has received an order to provide DB Regio AG with 18 modern Coradia Max electric multiple-unit trains. This order, consisting of 9 three-car and 9 five-car trains, is part of the ongoing effort to enhance passenger services in the northern German states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
• Paris metro line 4 fully embraces automationParis Metro Line 4 is now fully automated, marking a milestone in the modernisation of the city’s transportation network. Line 4 is the third Parisian line to be fully automatic, with lines 1 and 14. The project, completed on 17 December 2023, represents a forward-looking investment of approximately 480 million euros, entirely funded by Île-de-France Mobilités.

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• FirstGroup ’First Connections’ network to foster diversityFirstGroup has launched a network named ’First Connections’. The initiative is a consolidation of efforts to support personal development among women and ethnically diverse employees within the company.
• Rachel Geliamassi leaves Stagecoach West MD roleRachel Geliamassi has left her role as Stagecoach West Managing Director (MD) to join Great Western Railway (GWR). Elisabeth Tasker, who retired as Stagecoach Manchester MD in 2021, has been revealed as a replacement on an interim basis.
• Arriva and Stagecoach link up for multi-operator ticketing in LeicestershireArriva and Stagecoach have partnered to accept each other’s tickets on two routes between Leicester and Market Harborough.
• Bus speeds and coach CAZ exemptions on CPT Budget wish-listLong-term funding, a plan for local authorities to increase bus speeds and a creation of a new class of Clean Air Zone favouring coaches are featured among the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s (CPT) pleas to the Chancellor in its 2024 Budget Submission.

The Business Desk

• £10m turnover bus company acquired by multi-national transport groupTransport operator, FirstGroup plc, has agreed to acquire York Pullman Bus Company Ltd, which comprises five coach services brands.

Transportxtra

• HS2 chief sticks by £65bn total for delivering London-Birmingham lineSir Jonathan Thompson, executive chair of HS2 Ltd, has told MPs that the current cost of phase 1 of the high speed line between London and Birmingham, could now reach £65bn
• Nottingham buses face cuts as council looks to save £583kNottingham City Council financial problems which have led it to issue a Section 114 effective bankruptcy notice look set to bring cuts to bus services, according to proposals published by the local authority.
• Government support vital to bring rapid switch to Low-Emission Trucks, says ITFHeavy diesel trucks emit nearly three-quarters of all CO2 from freight transport but they are also among the most difficult vehicle types to power with sustainable fuels, says a new report from the International Transport Forum which urges immediate action by governments to support the switch.
• Half of Tees Valley's £1bn transport package to be spent on roadsTees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has unveiled a transport package worth almost £1bn for the city region, with more than half the funding to go towards road projects. He said the cash boost was thanks to re-directed funding after the scrapping of the proposed northern leg of HS2.

Other News Sources

• Talgo to co-develop hydrogen-powered high-speed trainTALGO is to lead a consortium of 10 Spanish companies and organisations which have formed a joint venture to develop the world’s first hydrogen-powered high-speed train. The Hympulso project will be based on the existing Talgo 250 bi-mode, with the addition of a new hybrid power car, combining hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.
• FirstGroup buys York Pullman Bus Co for undisclosed sumYork Pullman provides home-to-school and college contracted services and private hire operations including rail replacement services, and operates a small number of local bus routes on behalf of several local authorities.
• Mayors to meet government next week over alternative to cancelled HS2 rail link to ManchesterAndy Street and Andy Burnham to sit down with transport secretary Mark Harper to discuss proposals
• Lichfield MP calls for quicker resolutions for land owners along cancelled HS2 routeLand and property owners along the abandoned HS2 route are being treated unfairly, Lichfield’s MP has said.
• Katerina Lamprou, Urban Mobility Delivery Senior Manager, Visa Europe, outlines how ticketing will shape the future of public transport. What role does ticketing play in boosting public transport ridership? Paying for transit can still be more complicated than it should be in the digital era.

News from Europe

• ’Rail is again an effective alternative for Eurasian transport’All the more companies are identifying the same trend in Eurasian transport. With sea transport currently strained due to the situation in the Red Sea, rail is gradually becoming the preferred mode of transport between China and Europe.