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

Thursday, 22 July 2021

The Guardian

• Johnson's levelling up plan lacks definition and planning, say MPsGovernment needs to put forward coherent proposals with more detail about what communities could expect, committee says Boris Johnson's plan to 'level up' depressed areas of the UK to close the gap with London and the south-east risks becoming an everything and nothing policy� that lacks definition, coordination and planning, according to an all-party group of MPs.In a report on progress towards boosting regional health and economic activity, MPs said the government needed to come forward with coherent proposals with more detail about the outcomes communities could expect from a levelling-up

The Telegraph

• Branson’s Pendolinos trains get £117m overhaul [subscription]First class seating will be replaced with more space standard class and a restaurant of sorts will return

Times Online

• Trapped train passengers waited to die as floodwaters rose in China [subscription]rapped in the darkness as floodwaters rose around their chests, the passengers on a busy underground train in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou sobbed quietly. Some shared their phones, allowing others to say goodbye to loved ones. Few held out hope of a rescue.

i News

• Shutdown replaces lockdown as ‘pings’ hit retail, transport, tourism, manufacturing, NHS and policeEXCLUSIVEFigures show the widespread disruption caused by rising Delta variant infections and self-isolation rules with a near 60 per cent rise in NHS staff absence linked to Covid-19 and tens of thousands of workers quaratined in other sectors

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Transport Secretary responds to anger in Bradford over LNER train service cutsTRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps has said feedback about proposed cuts to LNER’s Bradford to London train service will be listened to “carefullyâ€�.

Lincolnshire Echo

• Victorian-style railway terminal planned for seafrontSouthport Pleasureland wants to refurbish the tracks by Marine Parade and build an ice cream parlour and cafe on the site of the old terminal

London Evening Standard

• Avanti West Coast starts UK’s largest refurbishment of a train fleetThe firm said the £117 million scheme will make its 56 Pendolinos ‘feel like new trains’.

The York Press

• Campaign to raise awareness of UK heritage railwaysTHE North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is spearheading a new nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the many heritage railways across the UK.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• MP calls for rethink over 'unachievable' HS2An MP has called for a rethink over HS2 after the northern phase of the line was branded

New Civil Engineer

• PM urged to rethink ‘once in a generation’ plans for EustonThink tank London First has written to the prime minister Boris Johnson calling for a rethink over the plans for Euston and the area around the new HS2 terminus.

Railway Gazette

• Movable overhead electrification aims to eliminate the need for diesel shunting locomotivesUK: Funding has been awarded for a project to test the use of a moveable overhead conductor rail at freight terminals where loading and unloading requirements mean conventional overhead electrification cannot be used. This could eliminate the need to use diesel shunting locomotives and remove a barrier to end-to-end electrification, aiding the decarbonisation of rail freight services.
• HybridFLEX prototype battery-diesel multiple-unit launchedUK: Chiltern Railways has unveiled its prototype HybridFLEX multiple-unit fitted with a hybrid traction system which can offer zero emissions and near silent operation at stations and in other sensitive locations.

Other News Sources

• BLAME GAME MSP hits out at Transport Sec’s ‘hypocrisy’ over distancing as he shares pic of crowded Edinburgh-East Lothian trainA SCOTS MSP has blasted the Transport Secretary's "hypocrisy" after he hit out at a train firm for snubbing Scottish Covid rules.