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

Tuesday, 04 December 2018

BBC News

• Rail chaos: GTR ordered to spend £15m on improvements for passengersGovia Thameslink Railway (GTR) must contribute £15m towards improvements in services for rail passengers and will make no profit in 2018, the Department for Transport (DfT) has said.
• Anger as 'Scrooge' ScotRail ends Kids Go Free schemeThe transport firm confirmed on Monday adults would pay £1 for a child aged five to 15 from January.
• ScotRail passengers face more disruption over staff shortagesStaff shortages have caused cancellations on services between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh via Falkirk High.
• Royal Dutch Shell ties executive pay to carbon reductionThe energy giant makes the move after pressure from investors, including the Church of England.
• Qatar pulls out of Opec oil producers' cartelThe Gulf state says it will pull out of the oil cartel in the new year to focus on gas production.
• Rail chaos: Transport Secretary could have done more to avert crisis, MPs sayTransport Secretary Chris Grayling is under fire for not doing more to avert this year's timetable meltdown.

The Guardian

• MPs call for fare freeze for those most affected by rail timetable fiascoSelect committee report highly critical of transport secretary as it blames collective failure

The Independent

• 'Potentially dangerous disruption': Passengers endured 'appalling services' during rail timetable chaos, MPs' scathing report finds“Around a fifth of rail passengers have suffered appalling services and been very badly let down by the whole system” – so says the Transport Select Committee in its scathing report on the botched introduction of new timetables in May.

Times Online

• Cameras to spot people texting while crossing the road [subscription]Pedestrians will be filmed as they cross roads in an attempt to prevent accidents caused by smartphone “zombies” who step into traffic while glued to a screen.
• Uber pushes to acquire electric scooter app [Subscription]If Uber’s taxis don’t appeal to you, then perhaps scooters might. The ride-hailing company is considering a multibillion-dollar deal to acquire a start-up that allows people to hire electric scooters.
• Train blame game derails Sir Terry [Subscription]Passengers often ask: who should we blame for the problems on the railways? So here’s a shock answer. Not the transport secretary Chris Grayling, apparently, but Sir Terry Morgan — the man soon to be sacked as chairman of Crossrail and HS2.
• ScotRail ‘Scrooges’ scrap free travel for childrenScotRail bosses have been branded “Scrooges” over their plans to scrap free rail travel for children.
• Chris Grayling blamed for rail fiasco [subscription]Chris Grayling should accept personal responsibility for the meltdown of rail timetables over the summer, MPs have said in a damning report.

City AM

• Sadiq Khan hits back at Terry Morgan over Crossrail commentsSadiq Khan has hit back at Crossrail chairman Terry Morgan over comments he made about what the mayor knew about the project’s delay.
• Govia Thameslink Railway operator strikes deal with government following rail chaosGo Ahead Group has struck a deal with the Department for Transport to allow it to hang on to the troubled Govia Thameslink Railway franchise.
• Transport secretary Chris Grayling could have done more to avert May timetable chaos, say MPsTransport secretary Chris Grayling should have been "more proactive" in averting the crisis that unfolded from the timetable upgrade in May, MPs have said.

Network Rail

• Two new railway lines into Bristol Temple Meads completed to help improve passenger journeysThis morning (Monday 3 December) Network Rail successfully completed the installation of two new railway lines between Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads – doubling the number of lines into Temple Meads from two to four.

London Evening Standard

• Sadiq Khan was warned of Crossrail delay in July, project chief insistsSadiq Khan's claim to have been kept in the dark about the need to postpone the opening of Crossrail was today thrown into doubt by the scheme's chairman.
• Row over 'eye-watering' pay rises including £124k splurge awarded to Transport for London bosses
• Rail timetable changes: Huge scale of shakeup that crippled UK train lines revealed in government reportThe

Manchester Evening News

• Calls for Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to resign following Northern Rail timetable chaosDamning report accuses minister of failing to accept responsibility for this summer's railways fiasco

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Transform rail services to ensure summer of chaos can never happen again, says inquiryRail companies and Department for Transport criticised in hard-hitting report about summer timetable chaos on the railways

Northern Echo

• Mayor's bid to buy airport branded 'vanity project'A GROUP of Labour council leaders have hit out at plans to bring Durham Tees Valley Airport into public ownership.

Yorkshire Post

• The Yorkshire Post says: Rail passengers were given broken promises – now Chris Grayling must actACCORDING to the Rail Delivery Group, made up of the different partners responsible for running the nation’s railway network, “the timetable is our promise to passengers”. For the past six months, that promise has been broken time and time again in Yorkshire, with tens of thousands of services significantly delayed or cancelled.

Lancashire Telegraph

• Forgotten railway line without passengersIn 1876 the two-mile route from Goosehouse Bridge to Hoddlesden opened with hopes that it would carry people as well as goods but the the upgrade never happened.

Other Regional Press

• Mid Cheshire Line Saturday service 'virtually useless'RAIL campaigners are calling for urgent action to restore Saturday train services in the run up to Christmas.
• A petition called "End Scotfail" has been launched to try to get the trains re-nationalisedTransport Union TSSA are officially calling for the Scottish Government to return the Scotrail franchise to public ownership, by launching a petition on the Change.org campaigning website.
• Train company improves service for lost itemsCustomers will no longer be charged for retrieving lost property from London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway stations. From Monday, charges are no longer in place at the train operator’s stations – which will apply to both the return of personal belongings and cash.

Construction Enquirer

• Ex-Laing O’Rourke chief to lead Stansted Airport expansionLondon Stansted has hired Laing O’Rourke project leader Gerry Whyte as delivery director for the airport’s £600m expansion project.

Rail Technology Magazine

• London Underground and Balfour Beatty prosecuted after worker suffered 'life-changing' injuries London Underground and Balfour Beatty have been fined £100,000 and £333,000 respectively – a total of £433,000 – after both pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws in a prosecution brought by the ORR. Adrian Rascarache, 36, was struck by a Road Rail...
• Sir Terry Morgan 'in absolutely no doubt' that Khan knew about Crossrail delayCrossrail’s chairman has insisted that Sadiq Khan was told in July about the need to delay the Elizabeth Line project and chose not to inform the London Assembly, challenging the London mayor’s claims he was in the dark. The soon-to-be sacked Sir Terry Morgan said in an interview on...
• Transport for the North launches the first phase of smart ticketing across YorkshireTransport for the North (TfN) is set to launch the first phase of its Smart on Rail project, rolling out the smartcard scheme across Yorkshire lines. The initial phase of the project, a result of a partnership between Northern, TransPennine Express and TfN, will run on rail lines between Hull...

Aviation Industry

• Nav Canada begins more efficient separation standard Nav Canada has implemented a new separation standard at Calgary International Airport (YYC) that allows reduced separations of aircraft making required navigation performance (RNP) approaches to parallel runways, becoming the first air navigation service provider to use the standard. read more
• Delta opens Atlanta biometric terminalCurb-to-gate biometric facial recognition at Delta Air Lines’ Terminal F at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) became fully operational Nov. 29. read more
• US and Argentina sign new aviation safety bilateralThe US and Argentina signed a new bilateral aviation safety agreement Nov. 30 during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, FAA announced. read more

Other News Sources

• MPs savage Chris Grayling for 'dodging responsibility' over rail timetable chaosTransport Secretary Chris Grayling tried to dodge responsibility for the rail timetabling chaos earlier this year but he should have taken the rap, MPs have declared.
• Stop-go electrificationIn 1955 the Modernisation Plan for British Railways was based on the assumption that all main lines would be electrified as soon as possible, that steam trains would be eliminated within a decade, and that diesel trains would plug the time gap.