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

Saturday, 11 January 2020

BBC News

• Stansted Airport £35m investment if expansion bid approvedExpansion plans for Stansted Airport are a step closer to lift off after it outlined £35m of investments for the local community. Officers at Uttlesford District Council have recommended proposals to increase its passenger cap to 43 million a year are approved later this month.
• Electric buses: Why were trolleybuses ever scrapped?The last trolleybus in Wales ran in 1970, but councils are now looking to bring back cleaner transport.
• Airlander 10: World's longest aircraft to get longerThe updated airship will be more efficient and have a rounder front, the company behind it says.
• Car ban and tram extension proposed in 10-year vision for EdinburghCity of Edinburgh Council publishes its draft city mobility plan and aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.
• Crossrail 'not fully operational until mid-2022'Europe's largest transport scheme was originally supposed to be finished by December 2018.
• London's New Routemaster buses to become front-boarding onlyA trial finds the change cut fare dodging rates by more than half while not affecting bus reliability.
• Electric buses launched in Glasgow in bid to cut emissionsElectric buses are being launched in Glasgow on a commercial route for the first time since the 1960s. Bus company First Glasgow said the introduction of the two vehicles was a "statement of intent" as Glasgow aims to become a "net zero" city.

Financial Times

• Geely in talks to pump cash into Aston MartinShares surge at UK carmaker in need of finances because of flagging profits
• Damning emails threaten Boeing's reputationCompany touted safety-first culture but has been undermined by revelations on the 737 Max
• Muilenburg walks away from Boeing with potential $80mCEO ousted over 737 Max crisis given no severance but keeps vested awards and options
• Ryanair lifts European airline sector after raising profit forecastLow-cost carrier says last-minute bookings helped boost trading over festive period

The Guardian

• Fare-dodging forces closure of rear doors on New Routemaster busTfL announces latest U-turn over vehicles Boris Johnson introduced as London mayor. The New Routemaster buses that Boris Johnson commissioned for London at huge expense, reintroducing rear doors, are to have them closed to boarding because of widespread fare evasion.
• Iran admits shooting down Ukrainian airliner 'unintentionally'‘Human error’ blamed as admission comes after initial denials were contradicted by western allies’ intelligenceIran has admitted that its military made an “unforgivable mistakeâ€� in unintentionally shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people onboard, after days of rejecting western intelligence reports that pointed to Tehran being responsible.A military statement on Saturday morning via state TV blamed “human errorâ€� for the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 on Wednesday in the tense aftermath of strikes on US targets. It was followed by an apology from Iran’s p...

The Independent

• Airlines face difficult decisions over whether to overfly the GulfPlane Talk: In a world where aviation is becoming ever safer, tragedies involving unintended shootdowns are all the more prominent

The Telegraph

• Crossrail to open in summer 2021 after long delay
• Iran plane crash: Tehran admits it 'unintentionally' shot down plane

Times Online

• Split fares just the ticket for passengers (but not rail bosses) [subscription]Britain’s biggest independent train ticket retailer will offer “split” fares in a move that could blow a £750 million hole in rail industry finances.
• 737 Max plane was built by ‘clowns and monkeys’, claim Boeing workers [subscription]Boeing employees joked that the 737 Max was “designed by clowns” who were “supervised by monkeys” before two of the jets crashed, killing 346 people.
• State rail operator hunts for staff to run failing routesThe government’s in-house train operator faces a struggle to recruit enough rail experts as concerns mount that at least five major franchises are at risk. Sources said that the so-called operator of last resort (OLR) — a subsidiary of the Department for Transport — was finding it difficult to cope with a mounting workload caused by the implosion of train companies.
• Taxi maker Geely to Aston Martin’s rescue? [subscription]Geely has emerged as a potential rescue investor of Aston Martin Lagonda, news that sent the luxury carmaker’s shares up 15 per cent, or 62½p, to 469¾p last night.

Sky News

• Iran admits it 'unintentionally' shot down Ukrainian passenger jetThe Iranian military has admitted that it "unintentionally" shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet on Wednesday, killing all 176 on board.

Birmingham Post

• Hull transport firm ESP Group has 'best-ever' year as sales pass £100mESP Group provides smart card technology for Transport for London, and last year saw turnover rise by more than £10m

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Fixing infrastructure issues like 'too short' platforms key to improving rail services SMALL changes to rail infrastructure, such as longer platforms at station, could make a huge difference to local rail services, according to West Yorkshire Councillors.

Bristol Live

• First apology to bus passengers blames congestion and roadworks 'We want to apologise to everybody who’s had their journeys disrupted this week'

London Evening Standard

• Boris buses' back door boarding ban to stop fare dodgersPassengers are to be banned from boarding through the middle and rear doors of the
• Crossrail to open in summer 2021 - two-and-a-half years later than first hopedCrossrail will open in

The York Press

• Bid to boost cycle safety at Tower Street junctionHIGHWAYS bosses are hoping to tackle the number of cycle accidents at a York junction by widening a cycle lane and reducing the number of vehicle approach lanes from two to one.

This Is Local London Network

• Final Heathrow expansion plans will 'test' Johnson's climate change commitmentsThe final planning application for Heathrow’s third runway will be a ‘test’ of Boris Johnson’s commitment to tackling climate change, according to the Shadow Transport Secretary.

Wales Online

• Number of lanes for cars in Cardiff city centre to be reduced with big segregated cycle and bus lanes insteadThe plans will see new cycle ways throughout the city centre alongside major changes to Castle Street and Westgate Street

East Anglian Daily Times

• Town hopes to bring back bus routes for community and tourismInnovative proposals to introduce new bus services in Woodbridge and the surrounding area are being drawn up by community leaders in a bid to alleviate cuts to rural routes.

Other Regional Press

• First Bus finally apologises for sailing past group of walkersMan's four month battle for action and the truth behind why driver ignored customers has finally been won
• Hopes raised for talks to resolve guards on trains' disputeHopes have been raised that fresh talks will be held in a bid to resolve the long-running dispute over guards on trains on one of the busiest rail franchises in the country which includes the Weymouth-Waterloo line.

C.N.N.

• Ousted Boeing CEO exits with $80 million - but no severanceOusted Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg left the company with stock options and other assets worth about $80 million, but did not receive severance as part of his departure from the embattled company, Boeing disclosed late Friday.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• New Routemaster buses to become front-boarding onlyAll New Routemasters will be converted to make the middle and rear doors exit only following a successful pilot on the route 8 that reduced fare evasion without affecting the reliability of the route. The New Routemasters currently allow boarding through all doors, but this has seen fare evaders deprive London’s transport network of millions of pounds of vital revenue. Fare evasion on New Routemasters is more than double the rate of other buses, with Transport for London (TfL) estimating that more than £3.6m is lost each year on New Routemasters. The current system also means that...
• Glasgow goes back to the future with unveiling of new electric buses for the cityFirst Glasgow will roll out two all-electric buses as it becomes the city’s first commercial bus operator to introduce state-of-the-art fully-electric vehicles onto a commercial bus route since the 1960s, following funding from electricity distributor SP Energy Networks.    The new buses are a statement of intent for the city’s transport, as they look to join the electric revolution to help meet their bold target of net zero emissions by 2030. The launch of these vehicles means the city has now come full circle back to fully electric transport on commercial routes for the...

Rail Technology Magazine

• ScotRail 19 month-high for trains running on timeScotland’s Railway is celebrating the highest number of trains running on time since June 2018, a 19 month-high for the franchise. Customers of ScotRail are enjoying the benefits of a huge infrastructure investment and £475m spent on new and upgraded trains. The new figures...
• Elizabeth line completion update from Crossrail Ltd Today (10 January) Crossrail Ltd issued its latest update on progress to complete the Elizabeth line. They have confirmed their plans to open the central section between Paddington and Abbey Wood in summer in 2021. The central section is currently on time with construction and should be...

Railnews

• Franchising crisis deepens as West Midlands joins the doubtful list The rail franchising crisis is deepening, with West Midlands Trains now joining the list of contracts in doubt. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also confirmed that contingency plans are being developed to replace Northern. In the Commons, Mr Johnson has told MPs that ˜bell is tolling for West Midlands rail™, while Labour™s shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald has urged ministers to ˜turn off the life support™ for ˜zombie franchises™.

Aviation Industry

• Boeing Fought Lion Air On Proposed MAX Simulator Training RequirementBoeing’s efforts to keep 737 Next Generation and MAX training as similar as possible included limiting external discussion of the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) as early as 2013, as well as an aggressive lobbying effort to dissuade Lion Air from requiring simulator sessions for its pilots, new documents released by the manufacturer reveal.

Other News Sources

• London City Airport had a record breaking year in 2019Over five million passengers travelled through London City Airport last year, making 2019 the busiest year in the airport’s history. Publishing its official annual passenger figures, London’s most central airport announced that a total of 5,100,025 passengers flew in to and out of the airport in 2019. The figure is a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent which has been driven by the launch of new routes combined with additional flights and larger aircraft with more seats on existing routes.
• Brentford & Isleworth MP in favour of stopping Heathrow ExpansionLocal MP Ruth Cadbury has slammed the latest announcement that Heathrow Airport will be holding another consultation on expansion, between April and June 2020.
• Decade of ascendency: New hydrogen fuel cell capacity surpassed 1GW in 2019 More than 1GW of global hydrogen fuel capacity was added in 2019, marking the first time the sector has surpassed the gigawatt milestone, with experts claiming that this could be a decade of "ascendency" for the technology.
• Electric buses to operate in Glasgow for first time in 60 years Electric buses will run on a commercial route in Glasgow for the first time since the 1960s, after bus operator First Glasgow introduced two new vehicles to assist with the city's net-zero aspirations.