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

Friday, 16 August 2019

BBC News

• Leaders call for £39bn for Northern Powerhouse Rail projectPrime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged to commit £39bn to Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) for high-speed rail links across the Pennines. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is one of 19 regional leaders demanding a "northern budget".
• What has gone wrong with rail franchising?Calls to reform the system are growing amid anger over rising fares and poor punctuality.

The Guardian

• German MP sparks row after proposing an end to first-class rail travelA leading leftwing politician has sparked a row in Germany by proposing the rail operator Deutsche Bahn scraps first-class carriages to reduce overcrowding and improve energy efficiency.

The Independent

• Leicester is the worst-connected big city by rail in BritainLeicester is the worst-connected big city in Britain in terms of rail links. Research by The Independent shows that the East Midlands city has a narrower range of train services than a village in Cornwall. Each of the 12 largest cities outside London was evaluated on four criteria.
• King's Cross developers under investigation for scanning public with facial recognition camerasInformation Commissioner investigating whether surveillance is breaching data laws

Times Online

• Former Arriva boss leads shake-up of First Group board [subscription]An experienced transport executive is to be chairman of First Group after turning down the chance to join an activist investor-led bid to oust most of the board.
• Fare caps to protect rail passengers [subscription]Train fares between Norwich and Ely in the east of England will be capped after a competition investigation into the award of the East Midlands train franchise to Abellio.

London Evening Standard

• First Group activist Coast cheers new chairman following bruising battleThe Wall Street activist battling bus-to-rail operator First Group cheered a boardroom shake-up on Thursday after one of its preferred candidates to join the board was made chairman.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Controversial Bescot railway sleeper factory 'would create jobs'This is despite strong opposition from residents who believe the factory would increase pollution and impact their lives.

Yorkshire Post

• Transport for the North's plea to Government for northern budget "does not go nearly far enough"A plea to Ministers by the North's strategic transport body to deliver a 'Northern budget' to invest in transport improvements "does not go nearly far enough for long-suffering Northern commuters and passengers", it was claimed today.

Other Regional Press

• HS2 line to Manchester 'will be an important milestone'MANCHESTER Airports Group and HS2 see a high speed link to the north as key for a connected, global Britain.
• ‘Virgin have been top notch’ - Your reaction as new franchise takes over the West Coast Main LineThe Government have announced that First Trenitalia will operate train services on the West Coast Main Line from December 8.

The Economist

• How rising rail fares and falling punctuality undermine confidenceMany office serfs like to slip away early on Friday afternoons in the quiet summer months. So anger boiled over on August 9th when several rail lines were shut down following a power cut. Delays were so bad on lines going north from London that it was quicker for some commuters to trudge home on foot. The snafu was the fault of the electricity industry rather than the train companies. But it added to the railways’ growing reputation for unreliability. With dreadful timing, it was announced a few days later that fares would go up again next year, by 2.8%.

Airportwatch

• Mayors and council leaders call for specific budget for the northA group of city mayors and council leaders representing more than 15 million people in the north of England are launching a campaign for the region to have its own specific budget, as a way of spreading economic growth further around the country.

New Civil Engineer

• Exclusive | HS2 director for stakeholder engagement exitsHigh Speed 2 Ltd’s strategic director for stakeholder engagement Tom Kelly has left the delivery body, New Civil Engineer can reveal. The strategic director, who had worked at HS2 for over five and a half years, is understood to have left HS2 Ltd at the start of August. HS2 has lined up Aileen Thompson as Kelly’s replacement.
• Transport secretary to review Heathrow expansion viabilityTransport secretary Grant Shapps has questioned whether Heathrow expansion “stacks up” financially, casting doubt over whether the project will actually go ahead. Shapps also has promised to, as transport secretary, closely examine the case for building a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Government announces £25m Brexit high-speed medicines trainIn the event of a No Deal Brexit, the Government has announced the setting up of a high-speed train service to ferry medicine to the UK from France.

Other News Sources

• Alexander Dennis introduces Enviro400ERAlexander Dennis Limited (ADL) has announced it is adding to its range of low- and zero-emission buses with the new Enviro400ER Electric Range hybrid double-decker.
• Boris Johnson must commit £39bn to trans-Pennine high speed rail line or Northern Powerhouse is hot air, leaders sayBritain's new PM urged to swap words for action by bringing the North of England closer together
• Crossrail promises contractors for eastern stations at end of monthSites at Ilford and Romford in line for revamp Crossrail has said it expects to appoint contractors at the end of this month for work to revamp a pair of overground stations at the line’s eastern end.
• There is one good thing to be said for the Beeching AxeIn the early 1960s, Harold Macmillan’s government commissioned a report intended to modernise Britain’s railway system, and to make it profitable for the first time in ages. Victorian “railway mania” had generated some of the most impressive railway routes in Europe, but it had come at a cost: early investment in railway infrastructure had grown and grown, even in areas where it was economically unsustainable. The changing transport habits of the post-war period proved the final straw: by 1963, fully half the train stations in the UK only brought in 2 per cent of the revenue, with many routes running almost empty trains at a heavy loss.