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

Friday, 04 January 2019

BBC News

• Northern: Rail firm receives extra £11m subsidy as profits fallThe RMT union criticises the Department for Transport for paying more money to Northern rail.

The Independent

• London-Dublin: Travelling by train could cost less than flyingThe Independent’s Jon Stone live tweeted the eight-and-a-half-hour journey
• China to launch self-driving bullet trains that will travel at 350km per hourThe high-speed service will run between Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province

City AM

• Sir Terry Morgan to appear at London Assembly grilling over lead-up to Crossrail delayFormer Crossrail chairman Sir Terry Morgan will give his account of the events leading up to the announcement of project's delay after Sadiq Khan accused him of "misremembering events".
• TfL has the worst gender pay gap of all of City Hall's agencies, new data revealsThe gender pay gap at Transport for London (TfL) grew to 21.5 per cent last year – the only City Hall body to have seen an increase in the difference between men and women's average hourly earnings.

London Evening Standard

• Southern Rail apologises after offering customer £10k ticket for single trip from London Bridge to GatwickA rail firm has apologised after a customer was offered a £10,000 ticket for a single journey between London Bridge and Gatwick Airport.

Wales Online

• Rail electrification from London to Cardiff will be another yearRail passengers will have to wait another year before being able to travel from Cardiff to London entirely on electrified trains.
• Transport for Wales chief exec says the Metro will be 'one of the best in the world’James Price says the project will improve the economy of the Valleys

Blackpool Gazette

• Blackpool passengers 'have to put up with' Pacer trains for a while longerBlackpool rail users look set to have to put up with the obsolete 142 Pacer trains for longer than promised. Operator Northern has admitted the much-criticised 1980s rail buses will have to be used on Fylde coast lines throughout this year

East Anglian Daily Times

• Rail commuters ‘fed up with paying high prices for a deteriorating service’, says MP“Fed up” commuters who have just seen ticket prices rise want to see improvements to their service, an MP has said after a day of rail delays.

Kent Online

• Plans for high-speed service connecting Kent to Gatwick Airport rejectedBold plans for a new high-speed rail service which could take passengers from Ashford to Gatwick airport in just 25 minutes have been rejected. The new £10 billion railway service - dubbed the 'M25 for high-speed trains' - would have connected the existing high-speed rail line in Ashford to the planned HS2 project along a route that passed via both Gatwick and Heathrow airports.

Other Regional Press

• £50m East Yorkshire rail upgrade hopes to get region back on trackThe huge investment from Network Rail will provide a line 'fit for 21st century'
• Greens convince Thameslink to introduce new anti-idling measures at St Albans CityThe Green Party has convinced Govia Thameslink Railway to introduce new anti-idling measures at St Albans City station.
• Rail fares hike for Leighton Buzzard commuters slammed by MEPCommuters in Leighton Buzzard faced an unwelcome price hike on their return to work after the New Year as their annual season tickets rose in price by another £140.
• Rail user groups’ disappointed over 3.1 per cent fare increaseRail users groups across North Herts have expressed their anger at the increase in train fares which came into effect today, despite the disruption caused by the May 2018 timetable.

Rail Technology Magazine

• TfL awards £196m contract for Barking Riverside Overground extension TfL has awarded a £196m contract to build a 4.5km rail extension of the London Overground to Barking Riverside to a joint venture of Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure and VolkerFitzpatrick (MSVF). The overground extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line, from the Tilbury...
• Final intercity train sees GWR deliver 10,000 more seatsMore than 10,000 more train seats have now been made available on the Great Western Railway (GWR) network after the train operator delivered the remainder of the new fleet of Class 800 intercity trains yesterday. Before Christmas GWR took the delivery of its final Class 800 Intercity Express...
• HS2 project part of new East Midlands manufacturing zones schemeA north Derbyshire HS2 project has been named as one of the locations of the UK’s first manufacturing zones in the East Midlands. Communities secretary James Brokenshire has announced that four projects have been chosen to form the new and innovative East Midlands Manufacturing Zones...

RMT

• New Arriva Rail North Accounts reveal secret extra paymentsNew Arriva Rail North Accounts reveal secret extra payments funded by UK taxpayers are being used to subsidise the German company’s profits instead of keeping a guard on the train

Other News Sources

• Track works completed on scheduleWESTBURY Railway Station is due to re-open for normal scheduled services at 4am this morning (Friday) (January 4) following upgrading and improvement works.