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

Thursday, 09 July 2020

The Herald

• Scottish transport giant reveals it may not survive pandemicTRANSPORT giant FirstGroup has seen shares tumble after flagging doubts over its future amid the coronavirus pandemic as passenger numbers plunged and it slumped to a near-£300 million loss.

Times Online

• Red warning lights flash after First Group reverse [Subscription]First Group has warned that it may not be able to meet its debts over the next few months and that “material uncertainties” hang over the company after it fell to a third straight annual loss.
• Coronavirus crisis: Extra £50bn spent on public services since March [Subscription]Rishi Sunak has spent an additional £48.5 billion on public services since telling the NHS in March that he would give it “whatever extra resources” it needed to cope with coronavirus, it emerged yesterday.

Mail Online

• Ghost trams circle a city with practically no-one in itThe city of Melbourne has been plunged back into silence just hours after its residents were placed back into COVID-19 lockdown. 

Belfast Telegraph

• Time to stop advising people to avoid public transport – FirstGroup bossTransport giant FirstGroup has urged the Government to stop encouraging people to avoid trains and buses.

Birmingham Post

• FirstGroup warning as it slips to £300m lossCompany operates South Western Railway, Avanti West Coast and Hull Trains

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Commuter trains could run on Keighley heritage lineCOMMUTER trains could run on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway under new proposals from the heritage line’s bosses.

London Evening Standard

• Transport bosses urge Government to stop telling people to avoid trains and buses

Manchester Evening News

• Plans revealed to reopen two railway stations for first time in 50 yearsLeigh is the largest town in the north west to not have access to an active railway station.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Railway prepares to reopenStaff are being recalled and preparation work is underway at Severn Valley Railway ahead of its reopening next month.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Boris Johnson: TfL driverless trains 'should be funding condition'Allowing driverless trains should be a condition of any future funding of Transport for London (TfL), Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. In May, TfL secured £1.6bn in emergency funding to keep Tube and bus services running until September. There are currently no driverless trains on the London Underground. Train drivers' union Aslef dismissed Mr Johnston's call saying: “As always, Boris Johnson is talking nonsense about driverless trains.

Rail Technology Magazine

• £14m depot facility opened in Doncaster After work began back in 2015 to transform the site at Marshgate, on Tuesday (July 7) Network Rail opened their new £14m depot in Doncaster. The site aims to bring highly skilled teams across the area together and to boost the economy in the town which is renowned for its railway...
• Network Rail backing revolutionary rail ideas Network Rail is supporting 11 of the 25 winning entrants of the Government’s £9.4m First of a Kind (FOAK) 2020 competition to deliver a better, more dependable and efficient railway for passengers and freight users. Funded by the Department for Transport and managed by Innovate UK...