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

Tuesday, 24 March 2020

Government

• Rail emergency measures during the COVID-19 pandemicWe're supporting train operators to make sure our railways stay open for key workers during the coronavirus outbreak.
• Traffic Commissioners require electronic communication during COVID-19 outbreakTransport regulators give strong guidance on how to maintain services following Government advice. The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain are currently faced with the difficult task of providing ongoing support and service to the transport industry, during a time of unprecedented disruption. Our roads need to be kept safe for essential deliveries, but the regulators are reviewing their processes and making essential adaptations as the COVID-19 situation develops.
• CMA review of air traffic control chargesThe CMA has released and is consulting on its provisional findings into a dispute between the CAA and NERL regarding air traffic control charges.

BBC News

• Coronavirus hits Birmingham's clean air zone planBirmingham is seeking to delay its crackdown on cars entering the city centre.
• Coronavirus: Stagecoach and FirstGroup count the costStagecoach and FirstGroup step up efforts to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on their businesses.
• Trains busy as new ScotRail timetable beginsTravellers urged to heed advice to only travel if their journey is essential.
• Coronavirus: Tube drivers 'furious' at crowded carriagesThe crowding has left London Underground drivers and staff
• Commuters to get refund on rail season ticketsThe government is refunding the cost of season tickets for workers staying at home over virus fears.
• Coronavirus: Carmakers answer pleas to make medical suppliesThe auto industry is pledging to help tackle a shortage of ventilators and masks as virus spreads.

The Guardian

• Hinkley Point C work to carry on but HS2 could be pausedMajor infrastructure projects highlight varying approaches to the coronavirus outbreak
• Rail franchising has hit the buffers. The question is, what replaces it?ail franchising is being suspended “for a limited period, initially six months,” said the Department for Transport. Are you sure? It seems more likely the whole franchising model, as understood since privatisation in the 1990s, is now finished for good.

The Telegraph

• Boris Johnson announces UK lockdown: watch his speech in full

Times Online

• Troubles on the line were red signal to rail franchises [subscription]It is the end of this country’s 23-year experiment of rail privatisation as we know it. The government’s emergency decision to end the present arrangements and put all train operators on management contracts, paying a 2 per cent fee for the next six months, means that the existing and discredited franchising system is dead.
• Scots commuters packed like sardines after services cut [subscription]Buses and trains were packed with commuters risking the spread of coronavirus yesterday after operators introduced reduced timetables.
• Final Nail in Coffin for Rail Franchises [subscription]People’s coronavirus symptoms can be different. Take those of Matthew Gregory, the First Group boss. He woke up to find a rather warm feeling coursing through his veins: the result of his loss-making rail franchises becoming instantly profitable.
• Coronavirus: One million Britons are ordered to catch the next flight home [subscription]As many as one million Britons travelling abroad have been told to return to the UK immediately amid fears that ways of getting home are narrowing.
• Packed trains hamper efforts on social distancing to stop the spread of coronavirus [subscription]Extra trains will be introduced to keep passengers apart and stop the spread of coronavirus after anger over scenes of packed carriages.
• Transport operators First and Go-Ahead groups move to reassure investors [ subscription]The stock market’s two remaining train and bus operators have tried to reassure investors about their funding position after the government made its boldest intervention on the railways since privatisation more than two decades ago.

City AM

• Coronavirus: Government decision to take over rail network raises questions over Williams reviewThe government’s decision to bring the UK’s rail network under the management of the Department for Transport for the duration of the coronavirus crisis has raised questions over the future of the rail franchising system.

Sky News

• All British travellers told 'the time to come home is now'Britons who are currently travelling abroad are being urged to return to the UK now.

Birmingham Post

• Manchester Airport to close terminals two and threeA “significant fallâ€� in passenger numbers - and the expectation of a further drop - means major change from Wednesday
• Transport firm offers unused buses to national virus effortsNewcastle transport firm has cancelled dividend after Government moved to suspend UK rail franchises
• New brand name for aerospace firm following mergerNew business formed by Pattonair and Wesco will be called Incora

Bristol Live

• Airbus unveils emergency measures to ‘protect future’'We are safeguarding our business'
• Nighttime bus service to Southmead Hospital is savedThe West of England Combined Authority (Weca)  is making up the £57k shortfall to cover the service

London Evening Standard

• Government to create safe spaces on trains for key workersFollow our live Covid-19 updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Taxi company offers to help people across the North EastWallsend based Blueline Taxis is offering vouchers to vital healthcare workers and has stepped forward to provide food deliveries for those who can't get to shops

Wales Online

• Coronavirus: Trains in Wales were packed today and people are scared and angry"How are we supposed to keep our distance when there are so many people on one train. It is shocking. This train feels like a death trap"

Business Live

• Transport for Wales close to agreeing emergency support for hard hit rail franchise operatorIt comes after the Department for Transport effectively nationalised rail franchises in England
• Transport for Wales close to agreeing emergency support for hard hit rail franchise operatorIt comes after the Department for Transport effectively nationalised rail franchises in England

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• TfL suspends all road user charging schemes to help critical workersTransport for London has announced that all road user charging schemes in the capital will be temporarily suspended. This will come into effect so that none of the charges are in operation from Monday 23 March until further notice. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has asked for this move to ensure London’s critical workers, particularly those in the NHS, are able to travel round London as easily as possible during this national emergency. It also supports the supply chain, the effort to keep supermarkets fully stocked and the city’s continued operation. Government advice is that p...
• Coronavirus: Rail emergency measures during the COVID-19 pandemicIn these uncertain times, the railway has a vital role to play in ensuring Britain’s key workers can travel and vital supplies are kept moving. My absolute focus is on making sure services continue so that journeys that are vital in tackling this crisis can continue to take place, so today (23 March 2020), to make sure our railways stay open, we are providing train operators on franchises let by my department the opportunity to temporarily transition onto Emergency Measures Agreements. These agreements will suspend the normal financial mechanisms of franchise agreements, transferring al...

Rail Technology Magazine

• Government announces rail emergency measures The Government have announced today (Mar 23rd) that they are taking emergency measures to sustain and withstand necessary rail services as operators face momentous drops in their income. The Department for Transport is temporarily suspending normal franchise agreements and transferring all...
• Children and parents reminded of the dangers around the railway Following the news on Friday that schools will be closed for the foreseeable future, British Transport Police and Network Rail are urging parents and careers to have a conversation with their children and loved ones about the dangers of trespassing on the railway. Yearly, there is a rise in the...

The Business Desk

• Mayor fires latest broadside at West Midlands TrainsWest Midlands Mayor Andy Street has fired another broadside at West Midlands Trains after saying he has had a "very forthright conversation" with the boss of the rail company.

Other News Sources

• A message from railway workersAs railway workers, we cannot work at home. But we are pleading with the travelling public, if you can work from home, please do. Because we want to do all we can to make sure that key workers, and essential goods, are transported around the country. And we will do everything we can to help our country fight and beat this pandemic.