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

Monday, 26 February 2024

BBC News

• Public 'taken for fools' over transport pledges - mayorPeople have been "taken for fools" over pledges to reallocate cash from the scrapped northern legs of the HS2 rail line to local transport projects, West Yorkshire's mayor has said.
• Travel: Trains between Cardiff and Rhondda resume after 10 monthsA railway line has reopened after being shut for 10 months while engineers updated 19th Century infrastructure.
• London bus miles cut by 22 million in six yearsThe number of miles covered by bus services in London was cut by 22 million between 2017 and 2023, new figures have shown.
• Derbyshire: Bus users say services 'not good enough'Frustrated Derbyshire residents have criticised unreliable buses and told the firm running them to do better.
• Thameslink Govia: Rail services in South East hit by signal failureRail services across Sussex, Surrey and Kent have been severely disrupted due to a major signalling fault.
• Public invited to help shape travel hub sculptureArtist Tom Hicks has been commissioned to create the new transport hub artwork.
• John O'Dowd announces £8.1m to fix 'poor' Northern Ireland roadsThe Department for Infrastructure funding will be used for issues including resurfacing and potholes.
• Translink: Bus and rail strikes suspended after latest pay offerA 72-hour strike due to take place this week is suspended after talks between unions and Translink.
• HS2: Midlands and northern England to get 'reallocated' fundsThe government has outlined further details of how it would redirect funding from the scrapped northern legs of the HS2 rail line.
• Ryanair warns of higher fares in summer due to lack of planesThe airline's boss, Michael O'Leary, said prices could rise by 10% this summer due to capacity constraints.

ITV News

• Sunak sets out £4.7bn ’local transport fund’ redirected from HS2’s axed northern legThe North and Midlands will receive £4.7 billion to spend on transport infrastructure, after the government cancelled the HS2 rail line north of Birmingham

Department for Transport

• Local leaders to receive £4.7 billion to transform transport across the North and MidlandsUnprecedented transport budget targeted at smaller cities, towns and rural areas will fund projects that matter most to local communities.

Financial Times

• UK ministers must move faster on net zero energy reforms, warns infrastructure tsarSir John Armitt accuses Whitehall of taking too long to decide on measures to support decarbonisation
• Ryanair demands compensation from Boeing for aircraft delivery delaysMichael O'Leary says manufacturing 'shit show' has led to the airline having to lower passenger forecasts

The Guardian

• 'Proper exciting': passenger trains to return to Northumberland Line after 60 yearsEnthusiasts join test run of Newcastle to Ashington service, which will restart this summer following 19-year campaign.
• Ryanair says aircraft problems could push summer fares up 10%Airline may have to trim schedules as it awaits delayed delivery of new Boeing Max 737-8200sPeak summer air fares in Europe are likely to rise again this year by up to 10%, according to Ryanair, as problems with aircraft at Boeing and Airbus leave customers scrambling for seats.

The Telegraph

• Heathrow faces strike threat over staffing shake-up. [subscription]Airport workers blindsided by new chief executive’s £40m cost-cutting plan

Times Online

• Buses take two hours to travel three miles in low-traffic neighbourhoods. [subscription]Lambeth council went ahead with the scheme despite the risk assessment finding that it would increase traffic on its boundary roads
• Rise in thefts of keyless vehicles drives record car insurance prices. [subscription]Tech-savvy thieves have contributed to the almost 60 per cent surge in the cost of coverage
• Seat shortages will raise flight prices this summer, says Ryanair boss [subscription]A delay in Boeing aircraft deliveries means the Irish airline might be forced to cut flights on high-frequency routes
• £4.7bn from axed HS2 leg handed to Midlands and north of England. [subscription]Rushi Sunak will announce a local transport fund for small towns and rural areas to spend on transport schemes

City AM

• Go-Ahead chief denies reports the UK’s largest rail operator is up for saleGo-Ahead Group’s chief executive has denied reports that the UK’s largest rail operator could be up for sale as part of a wider sell-off by its pension fund owner.
• Heathrow denies report that third runway plans have been shelved Heathrow has denied a report that its long-delayed third runway proposals have been shelved.
• Britishvolt owner hit with £8m bill over alleged tax avoidance in Australia The new owner of failed battery start-up Britishvolt faces a near £8m tax bill in his home country of Australia, where one of his companies has been accused of having

i News

• 200 staff employed on full pay for Government rail body… that doesn’t existEXCLUSIVEGreat British Railways tells i that staff working on other issues surrounding rail as project progress stalls

The Mirror

• Rishi Sunak accused of treating northerners as 'mugs' as he boasts about cash from axed HS2At a special Cabinet meeting in Yorkshire and the Humber Rishi Sunak will say the North and Midlands will receive £4.7billion in funds reallocated from the axed northern leg of HS2

Sky News

• North and Midlands to share £4.7bn transport fund after HS2 leg scrappedThe prime minister has revealed how some of the money from abandoning the HS2 northern leg will be reallocated.

Birmingham Mail

• We are in the the midst of a road safety crisis - apathy is not an optionWith another preventable tragedy on our roads this week - we must all act to turn the tide on dangerous driving
• £1.2bn HS2 cash to boost region's buses, trains and roads but there's a catchPublic transport money for West Midlands to fix potholes and bus stations but there are restrictions

Birmingham Post

• Work to start soon on Halifax town centre transformation schemesThe projects to upgrade public spaces have been funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Leeds Bradford Airport urge passengers to adhere to rulesLEEDS Bradford Airport (LBA) has told passengers to adhere to the existing rules as they install advanced scanners.

Bristol Live

• New bus routes planned for Bristol - and will be launching this springFirst West of England is introducing three cross-city bus routes in Bristol from April 7, as well as a number of other changes
• Bristol Bridge bus gate seeing hundreds fined daily three years onMany drivers are still getting caught

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Billion-pound rail plan for North Wales is ‘unprecedented’ but no timetable yetThe UK transport secretary met local leaders in Llandudno to discuss the project

Manchester Evening News

• 'Didn't they promise this 10 years ago? They must think we are thick'The government has announced £4.7bn of funding for transport in the North and Midlands using money saved by cancelling HS2

Nation. Cymru

• Who pays for sustainable transport?Professor Stuart Cole, CBE. Emeritus Professor of Transport Economics and Policy, Prifysgol de Cymru / University of South Wales.
• Bridge facing demolition as it’s too low for freight trains to pass underneathProposals to demolish and re-build a road bridge as it’s too low for modern freight trains to pass underneath, have been submitted
• Council rejects claims of lack of passengers at multi million pound transport hubA new bus service is set to run from a new multi million pound transport hub, amid claims hardly anyone is using the facility. A bus service officially started serving the transport hub, next to Barry Docks railway station, from January, 2024, although phase one of the hub was completed in summer, 2023.

Wales Online

• Timescale unclear on 'unprecedented' £1bn UK government rail investment in WalesTransport Secretary Mark Harper said the North Wales Main Line upgrade was a 'big investment' for the region

Yorkshire Post

• Nick Fletcher has tangled himself in knots with Doncaster Sheffield Airport claimsJust as it looked as if a lifeline was being extended to re-open Doncaster-Sheffield airport a massive political row threatens to ground rescue plans yet again.
• Rishi Sunak: Transport funding for Yorkshire will 'benefit more people, more quickly' than HS2 would ever have doneA near-billion pound transport investment is to "transform" Yorkshire journeys, the transport secretary has insisted, putting power into the hands of regional decision makers.

Hull Daily Mail

• £330m transport boost for Hull and East Yorkshire as Government pledges HS2 cash£330m transport boost for Hull and East Yorkshire as Government pledges HS2 cash

Other Regional Press

• Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester Airport set to scrap liquid ruleThe liquid rule has been a bugbear for British holidaymakers for years - but it looks like it could be scrapped at some major UK airports
• HS2 works 'a living nightmare' for villagers on edge of CoventryFew locations have been as greatly affected by the rail line's construction as Burton Green

Airportwatch

• Decades after Beeching, rural rail lines could be back on track. [subscription]A venture is testing a new breed of electric trains that promise a greener future for local travel from Edinburgh to Bristol

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• BSIP update ’should include longer-term bus plans and priorities’Local transport authorities (LTAs) in England will be expected to include proposals and priorities for the four-year period between FY2025/26 and FY2028/29 in their Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) update work for 2024, the Department for Transport (DfT) has underlined to those bodies.

The Business Desk

• Government to reallocate £947m of HS2 money to region’s public transportPrime Minister Rishi Sunak and Transport Secretary Mark Harper have confirmed that Yorkshire and the Humber will receive a £947 million funding boost from April 2025

Other News Sources

• HS2 launches third London Northolt tunnel TBMHS2’s London tunnels contractor Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture has launched the third tunnel boring machine to be used to dig part of the 8.4-mile Northolt Tunnel under the outskirts of the capital.
• Glasgow airport announces digital twin competitionUp to £70,000 is being made available to a company developing digital twin technologies in a live aviation environment.
• Heathrow denies shelving long-term third runway planHeathrow has declined to rule out a third runway despite a weekend newspaper report suggesting the plan had been scrapped.
• Heathrow targets 81.4 million passengers in 2024Heathrow is targeting record traffic figures this year, as 2023 saw the airport post its first annual profit since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Shropshire: West Midlands to receive transport boost says PMTHE Government has claimed that ’millions of people in the West Midlands’ will benefit from plans to use re-allocated HS2 money to ’revolutionise transport, drive economic growth and transform communities’.
• 100-day countdown clocks to Scotland's newest £116m rail link switched onCountdown clocks marking the final 100 days until Scotland’s newest rail link goes live have been switched on.
• Ship Recycling Market Faces Tonnage ShortageGlobal ship recycling markets are now being exclusively driven by the relentless and futile shortage of tonnage that is expected to continue until Spring (at the very least), says cash buyer GMS. The much-anticipated rebound in global recycling
• Gatwick Airport: New 24 hour bus route from HorshamA new bus route will run throughout the night to Gatwick Airport for 24/7 international travel.