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

Thursday, 06 January 2011

BBC News

• MPs call for recount on train punctuality figures Three MPs are calling for rail operator Southeastern to re-examine its punctuality figures for the past 12 months.

Financial Times

• China eyes creation of global rail leaderProposal to merge two dominant state-owned railway equipment producers to lead a high-speed rail export drive

The Scotsman

• Edinburgh trams running in 2011 (for 880 yards, that is) IT will run half a mile from one unpopulated place to another and it's the culmination of years of not-so-careful planning. Yes, Edinburgh's trams could actually run in 2011.
• Go to bed in Scotland, wake up in Paris under new rail plans Scottish travellers could benefit from direct rail journeys to mainland Europe, under plans unveiled by Labour.

The Telegraph

• Invensys Rail delays payments to suppliers Suppliers to Invensys Rail face rising costs after the group told key UK contractors they would wait up to twice as long to be paid. The decision has been heavily criticised by suppliers who now face further financial pressure after a fallow period of new works from Network Rail, which owns and operates the rail infrastructure.

Network Rail

• REVAMPING ARNSIDE VIADUCT - PUBLIC ROADSHOWS

Edinburgh Evening News

• Results of tram project probe set to be publishedTHE results of an official probe into the Capital's tram project are set to be published later this month.

Journal Live

• Rail ticket prices soar higher than inflation NORTH East rail users have been hit by above-inflation price hikes. Travellers on the regions rail networks have seen the cost of travelling shoot up by around 5.8% on some of the most popular routes as a result of New Year price rises.

London Evening Standard

• Victoria is the new nightmare Tube lineVictoria and Jubilee lines top a new London Underground 'league of shame' based on customer complaints

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• ScotRail under attack over north rail services disruptionsScotland™s train operator has been accused of failing to learn lessons from last winter on how to keep services running through a prolonged freeze.

Other Regional Press

• New generation of Wirral apprentices on track DISUSED railway lines will be used to train a new generation of apprentices in Wirral. A £115,000 apprenticeship scheme is creating 100 places over the next year for teenagers and unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds to learn railway engineering skills at a training site in Birkenhead.
• Didcot rail centre takes charge of 100 miles of track CONTROL of trains running through Reading was successfully transferred to Network Rail™s Thames Valley Signalling Centre, alongside Didcot Parkway station, over the Christmas break.
• Rail travel and station car parks price hikeRAIL commuters face a 5.5 per cent rise in the cost of commuting to London from Bedfordshire in 2011 - but train bosses say the increase is still below the national average.

Other News Sources

• NR turns on the charm in 2011 [Blog]With ATOC floundering over fare rises Network Rail appears to be inveigling itself into the Tory party's good books.The new, improved, cuddly, Coucher-lite Network Rail has begun a discreet charm offensive designed to win industry, stakeholder and political support for reform to the company's corporate governance and accountability as mandated by Petrol-head.
• Updates from Bombardier, KBR, Sam Schwartz Engineering, The Whitmore Group and Invensys RailBombardier Transportation received approximately $485 million in firm orders at December's end for rolling stock from an undisclosed customer, the company announced Tuesday in a prepared statement.

News from Europe

• Swedish architecture firm proposes buildings on rails Swedish architecture firm that came up with a plan to roll buildings through a city on rails has won third prize in a competition to develop the Norwegian city of Åndalsnes.