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

Saturday, 22 March 2025

BBC News

• Disruption across train routes for next two SundaysCustomers travelling by train between Bristol and South Wales are to face "significant" disruption for the next two Sundays, including on Mother's Day.
• Week-long closure of railway line beginsA railway line between Surrey and Berkshire has closed for a week as engineers complete track upgrades.
• Week-long closure of railway line beginsA railway line between Surrey and Berkshire has closed for a week as engineers complete track upgrades.
• Railway station project means seven-week roadworksThere will be diversions and temporary lights to allow the creation of a new Kings Heath station.
• 'Spaceship-building' coming to North-WestTim Peake said investing in the space economy would "inspire future generations".
• Heathrow airport closure: What we know so farFlights are resuming after disruption due to a fire at a nearby substation caused a power outage at the airport.
• Scotland fans stuck in Greece 'staying for a party'Flights from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness to and from Heathrow have been grounded because of a substation fire.
• Tesla vandals face up to 20 years in prison, says attorney generalThe US attorney general said a wave of vandalism and arson attacks at Tesla dealerships is "domestic terrorism".
• Uber offers 20 hours of free childcare in bid to lure female driversA union says it should instead pay drivers more so they can take time off with their families.
• The slow but steady advance of driverless vehiclesRobo-taxi services and driverless trucks are gaining ground but progress is painstaking.
• Heathrow closure: What are my rights?What are you entitled to if your flight is cancelled due to the fire that has led to the airport's closure?
• How did a single fire bring down Europe's busiest airport?Questions have been raised over what caused the outage and why back-up systems failed?

Financial Times

• Musk urges Tesla employees to ‘hang on’ to their sharesBillionaire rails against vandalism of cars and protests at dealerships in the US and Europe
• Heathrow hotels quadruple prices as stranded passengers drive demand Customers with few alternatives complain of ‘price gouging’ after flights cancelled
• Heathrow’s shutdown fuels questions about UK’s infrastructure resilience Within hours of a fire at a power substation, one of the world’s busiest airports was closed to all flights
• Travellers face days of disruption as Heathrow reopens after blazeFire at electricity substation that shut down Europe’s busiest airport raises questions about resilience of UK infrastructure

The Guardian

• Manchester’s Bee Network introduces tap-in travel on buses as well as tramsAndy Burnham hails ‘truly integrated, London-style’ system with fares calculated and capped automaticallyManchester will enjoy a transport network on “a footing with London, New York and Madrid” when contactless tap-in fares launch across its buses from Sunday.The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, said that the switch would mark the moment when the city would “realise our ambition of a truly integrated, London-style transport network”, allowing people to switch between buses and trams without different tickets and with the cost automatically calculated...
• Wales’s 20mph speed limit has cut road deaths. Why is there still even a debate?Research suggests the scheme may be more popular than thought, with consultations dominated by a loud minority Even with the caveats about limited data and untangling causation and correlation, the statistics are striking: the first year of a scheme in Wales where the speed limit on urban roads was lowered to 20mph resulted in about 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured.Introduced in September 2023 as a major road safety project of the Labour-run Welsh government, it made 20mph the default limit for any built-up area, defined as roads where lamp-posts were no more than about 180 metres ...
• Heathrow airport reopens but ‘huge impact’ on travel expected for days – live updatesPlanes begin to land at airport but airlines said the closure would continue to have a ‘huge impact’ on passengers in the coming daysDespite criticism from some quarters, the UK transport secretary has defended the airport over the length of its closure, saying the “unprecedented situation” had been “totally outside of Heathrow’s control”.Heidi Alexander said:They have stood up their resilience plan swiftly, and they’ve collaborated closely with our emergency responders and the airline operators. They do have backup energy supplies, they have gen...

The Herald

• Drivers face M8 delays as 18 days of closures announced for roadworksDrivers could face delays on the M8 eastbound for more than two weeks with parapet replacement taking place.

The Independent

• Heathrow closure ‘to cost UK economy £4.8 million in lost tourism’
• Heathrow airport live: More delays expected after fire chaos as airport says it’s now fully operational againHeathrow Airport is back in business after a fire at a London electricity substation

Times Online

• Fire chaos puts Heathrow and Grid bosses in the firing line [subscription]Departures are starting up again but so are questions about how one accident can cost thousands of holidays ? and millions of pounds for airlines
• What happened at Heathrow? How power outage shut the airport [subscription]First darkness, then fire filled the sky. As we piece together what happened, experts ask: why did Europe's busiest airport have a single source of power?

Daily Express

• Heathrow Airport closure: Engineer's mistake 'may have caused fire that shut down hub'A probe into the disaster is being led by counter-terrorism police, while Westminster sources have blamed human error.

Mail Online

• How controversial Motability charity hands out £500m in sweeteners to benefits claimants to increase take-upThe cash either goes directly into their bank accounts without being subject to any government clawback if a more basic car is selected, or towards the upfront cost of a plusher model.
• Grovelling £5m-a-year Heathrow boss apologises for airport carnage but says he's NOT to blame and 'we can't guard ourselves 100%' - as first plane finally lands but chaos could go on for DAYSHeathrow's chief executive Thomas Woldbye described the blaze 'as big as it gets for our airport' after 200,000 travellers were affected by the airport closure.
• Is one blundering engineer responsible for crippling Heathrow? Airport bosses face questions over farcical shutdown that left 300,000 travellers stranded - as new theory emergesTens of thousands of travellers are still stranded across the globe today after a blaze at an electricity substation cut power to the airport.

The Mirror

• Heathrow Airport's defiant message as flights finally resume following chaotic closureHeathrow Airport - the busiest airport in Europe after handling nearly 84million passengers in 2024 - was closed for hours on Friday after a blaze knocked out an electricity substation

This is Money

• Car safety tech dubbed 'dangerous, distracting and useless' by drivers - and it's why half turn assist features OFFMotorists are often infuriated by incessant warning bongs from these system or feel too uncomfortable relinquishing control - and their safety - to tech in their cars.
• Millions driving faulty vehicles because dealerships are failing to notify customers about safety recalls, investigation revealsThere are over 3.2 million cars and vans on the road that should of been recalled and fixed between 2018 - 2023 but dealers have failed to keep track of customers and warn them.

Sky News

• Heathrow shutdown is embarrassing at best - but at worst it points to serious vulnerabilities in UK infrastructureAn electrical substation fire and an entire airport shut down - with over 1,000 flights cancelled, others rerouted worldwide, and 200,000 passengers affected by the disruption.

Birmingham Mail

• Over a million drivers face having to carry new 'certificate' under UK rule changeNew research by AXA UK has found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of UK motorists do not plan to buy an electric vehicle, with 37% citing concerns over battery lifespan as a key reason.
• Drivers will be forced to obey new M6 speed limit for 'two years'Drivers and motorists in the north of England face prolonged chaos as a major UK motorway looks set to lower its speed limits for two years.
• Drivers set to be clobbered with new £50 charge ON TOP of car taxNew data has found that 2.9 million drivers are paying more for their car tax than necessary because they are unaware of a five per cent surcharge.
• HGVs face ban from major roads in England after landmark study finally endsA studylaunched in 2020 finally concluded last week with it finding that HGVs were too problematic for certain roads.

Birmingham Post

• The plans to transform integrated transport in the centre of NewportThe proposals take forward key recommendations of the South East Wales Transport Commission

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Almost one in ten Bradford parking tickets are cancelled after appealAlmost one in ten parking tickets issued by Bradford Council are cancelled after appeals, Ilkley and Ben Rhydding councillor Andrew Loy has discovered.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• New hi-tech parking system for iconic Anglesey beach but there may be a costIt comes amid growing concerns over 'shocking' work being carried out in the area

Wales Online

• Plans unveiled for new transport hub in Llanelli Carmarthenshire Council wants to 'enhance connectivity by streamlining links between rail, bus, and active travel methods of transport'
• M25 road closure to cause motorway and airport chaos for driversPeople are being warned about delays to their airport travel due planned road closure on the M25

Bucks Free Press

• Local residents heard ‘massive explosion’ before fire which shut down HeathrowResidents have described hearing a “massive explosion” after a fire at an electrical substation in west London which caused the country’s largest airport to close.

Cambridge News

• Highway Code change could affect drivers doing less than 10,000 miles a yearMore than a third of drivers are switching off assistance aids, campaigners said, as they called for a Highway Code rule change to ensure they are used more frequently

Other Regional Press

• Anger as flight prices soar amid Heathrow Airport's ongoing closureTravellers have hit back at airlines such as Ryanair on social media due to hiked flight prices amid Heathrow Airport's closure.

Railnews

• Arriva makes new open access bid Arriva is making a fresh application to run open access services, in spite of discouraging indications from the Department for Transport, which has highlighted possible path shortages. Arriva Group is submitting an open access application to the Office of Rail and Road to run direct services between Cleethorpes, Grimsby, Habrough, Scunthorpe and London.
• Passenger figures continue recovery since pandemic New figures show that the demand for railway services is getting closer to levels recorded before the Covid pandemic, and could be about to overtake them. The latest quarterly figures from the Office of Rail and Road for the three months to December 2024 show that passenger numbers grew by 7 per cent in the last quarter year-on-year, and that revenue was up by 8 per cent over the same period.

Other News Sources

• Bee Network bounce inspires GBR rebrandMinisters saw how Greater Manchester’s Bee Network rebrand changed public perceptions almost overnight and want the same bounce for rail The new logo and branding will be different to a Great British Railways logo that was registered with the Intellectual Property Office’s online trade marks journal in 2022 The government is set to unveil a new Great British Railways logo in May. The rebranding aims to restore pride in Britain’s railways, with the Union Flag expected to feature prominently. According to The Times, ministers are understood to ...
• Farnborough Airport signs ground-breaking fuel dealThe deal with Hydrogen Refinery will help meet the new SAF mandates introduced in January 2025.
• South Western Railway ranked among worst train operators in UKSouth Western Railway has been ranked among the UK's worst train operators by an independent watchdog.

EIN News Subscription

• Italy watchdog probes rail operator FS for allegedly ‘hindering’ French competitorit is investigating state-owned railway operator Ferrovie dello Stato . “Access to the national railway infrastructure and, as a consequence and FS, as well as rail companies Trenitalia and Italo, operate using 15 new TGV M trains, the first deliveries of
• Heathrow Blackout Exposes Weak Spot in Airport’s Power Suppliesairlines.” Walsh said it’s a “clear planning failure by the airport time, given that Europe’s busiest airport uses as much the security lanes in all of its terminals. The airport across UK airports to help accommodate disrupted passengers from Heathrow’
• Air Cargo Congestion ‘Will Ripple Outward’ After Heathrow Airport Closureair cargo software and consulting provider Rotate, 12 percent of European company is using ground transport to reroute shipments criticism from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). “How failure by the airport.” Airports worldwide got a
• Heathrow resumes operations as global airlines scramble after shutdownDepartment of Transport to ease congestion, but British Airways chief executive experts said the last time European airports experienced disruption on such a