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

Friday, 21 February 2020

BBC News

• Bakerloo Line: Tube warning as drivers go on strikeEngineering works will add to the disruption expected as Bakerloo Line drivers walk out.

The Guardian

• Mind the lovely gap betwixt HS1 and HS2The walk between the end of HS2 at London Euston and the start of HS1 at St Pancras needn’t be irksome, writes Jim Grozier, but Christopher Nankivell thinks the plan to ‘level up’ the north hasn’t been thought through

The Scotsman

• Hydrogen-powered train to be tested in Scotland as fuel of future

Times Online

• Flotation of Arriva by Deutsche Bahn runs into delays [subscription]Deutsche Bahn, the German rail operator, is delaying plans for an initial public offering of Arriva, its passenger transport business. The flotation had been planned for the first half of this year.

Belfast Telegraph

• Shapps: Train companies have ‘more to do’ despite rise in punctualityLatest industry figures show 65.1% of trains arrived at stations within one minute of the timetable in 2019.

Birmingham Post

• World leading transport firm Keolis opens new UK headquarters in CardiffKeolis has relocated its HQ from London

Bolton News

• Bolton train station will have some floor lights fixed onlyLIGHTS along the pedestrian walkway outside Bolton train station will shine bright again, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has said.

Other Regional Press

• WSR chairman says plans for Taunton to Minehead rail link "don't stack up"PLANS to create a community rail service between Minehead and Taunton ‘do not stack up’ according the chairman of West Somerset Railway.
• Wendover Tunnel 'too expensive', says Department for TransportAylesbury's MP Rob Butler is leading calls for a mined tunnel in Wendover to help to mitigate the negative effects of HS2.

New Civil Engineer

• Costain’s Welsh A-road upgrade £100M over budgetCostain’s upgrade of the A465 Heads of the Valley’s road in Wales may cost up to £100M more than budget and take two years longer to complete a report from the Welsh Government's auditor general has said.
• Anti-HS2 MP welcomes ‘promising’ review of northern sectionA prominent member of the dissenting group of Conservative MPs against High Speed 2 (HS2) has embraced the decision to review the northern section of the scheme.
• Rupert Clubb of Transport for the South EastTransport for the South East (TfSE) wants to bring about a change in the way people and goods move around the region. This goes way beyond building new roads or railway lines.

Rail Advent

• Grand Central announces £21m investment as new look locomotive appears in publicGrand Central has announced that it is investing more than £21m into the Blackpool to London route, with the first locomotive appearing in public with its new livery.

Rail Magazine

• Spring debut targeted for Welsh FLEX bi-modesClass 769 FLEX bi-mode trains could finally make their Transport for Wales passenger debut this spring, prior to the May timetable change.
• Doubts cast over future of three franchises including SoutheasternThe Southeastern franchise could yet follow LNER and Northern in being run by the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort, the Government has suggested.

Railway Gazette

• Brittany Ferries to launch Cherbourg – Spain rail motorway serviceFRANCE: Brittany Ferries has announced plans to launch its first rail motorway service in 2021, a 980 km landbridge carrying unaccompanied lorry trailers between the Channel port of Cherbourg and Mouguerre close to the Spanish border near Bayonne.

Other News Sources

• Train Operator Keolis Opens New Headquarters In CardiffThe move sees Keolis become one of the largest companies based in Wales.
• Northern Ireland’s public transport network “in jeopardy,” says DfI officialAn official from the Department for Infrastructure has warned that, without further funding provided to Translink, the future of Northern Ireland’s public transport is uncertain.
• ‘We’ve nationalised the wrong train operator’A representative of major business interests in the North of England has criticised FirstGroup over its “absolutely shocking” stewardship of the TransPennine Express franchise.