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

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

BBC News

• Birmingham Airport calls for focus on regions The government is being urged to do more to promote regional airports rather than focusing on developing a hub airport in south-east England.
• Handling the London Waterloo rush hour on Twitter It was 15:30 on a Wednesday, and a man was threatening to throw himself off a bridge and into the path of an oncoming train.
• Work begins on Bridgwater's north east link road Major construction work has begun on a new road and railway bridge in Somerset as part of regeneration plans.
• Southern Railway extends scheme to report crime by email An initiative which encourages rail passengers to report incidents of low-level crime by email is being extended through Sussex, Surrey and Kent.
• Cardiff rail commute top - Campaign for Better Transport Train services in Cardiff are among the most affordable in the UK, with the least overcrowding and one of the most punctual, research has claimed.
• Norman Baker opens new cycleway on A27 in East Sussex A £1m upgrade to the national cycle network in East Sussex has been officially opened by transport minister, Norman Baker.
• Shoreham footbridge to go ahead despite £9.8m cost Work to build a West Sussex footbridge which was delayed after the cost nearly doubled is to begin later this summer.
• Cardiff Airport regional hub pleaCardiff Airport has an important role in developing short-haul flights to Europe, says an expert, as a call is made for regional airports to ease the strain on Heathrow.
• Buses to return to Princes StreetEdinburgh's Princes Street is to reopen to taxis and buses on Saturday following tram works.
• Airport calls for regional focusThe government is being urged to do more to promote regional airports rather than focussing on developing a hub airport in south-east England.
• Gatwick boosted by passenger riseGatwick Airport has cut its pre-tax losses, helped by a rise in passenger numbers and new routes to the Far East including Hong Kong and China
• Labour urges fuel duty rise delayLabour says it will attempt to force the government to delay the 3p-a-litre rise in fuel duty due to come into effect in August.

Financial Times

• Anti-sleaze activist joins Aeroflot boardAlexei Navalny, a leading Russian opposition figure and blogger, is to use his new position to promote his corporate governance campaign
• Greening eyes four-runway hub airportThe transport secretary has raised the possibility that Britain may need a four-runway hub airport in the long-term, but voiced doubts that Heathrow could be the location
• Gatwick passenger numbers risePassenger numbers rose from 31.6m to 33.8m last year, helping to cut annual losses at the airport owned by Global Infrastructure Partners of Canada

The Guardian

• London Olympics transport hotspots visualised Which bits of the capital will be most affected by the London Olympics? Click on the graphic below to see the how London is expected to work in July, with data from Transport for London
• Airline chiefs slam government for blocking Heathrow expansion Aviation industry says stopping third runway was an 'easy, populist' decision and came at worst time for the economy
• Commuters face rail fare hikes of at least 6% next year Government to reinstate fare rises of 3% above inflation as train operators consider campaigning for lower increase

The Herald

• Princes Street set to reopen to traffic after 10 monthsEDINBURGH'S Princes Street will re-open for buses, taxis and bikes this Saturday as tram construction work moves into its next phase, creating fresh traffic problems east of the city centre.

The Independent

• Heathrow told to stop moaning about capacity Gatwick boss says claims about aviation in London are harming the economy
• Call for action on aviation policyThe Government must aim for a secure and lasting aviation policy after

The Telegraph

• Justine Greening asks the killer question I don't want to make a habit of praising government ministers, having written earlier that David Cameron's speech on welfare reform was pretty decent. But hooray for Justine Greening. The Transport Secretary, who is also MP for Putney, is opposed to a third runway at Heathrow and refuses to rule out resigning if, as feared, the PM's guarantee on the subject turns out to be another promise that is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. In an interview with the Evening Standard she has the put the killer question to all those corporatist just-build-it CBI types who demand a 3rd runway.

Daily Express

• Far East flights boost Gatwick profitsNEW flights to the Far East's fast-growing economies have lifted profits and passenger numbers at Gatwick.

Mail Online

• Transport Secretary Justine Greening says petrol prices must rise again to help clear UK debtTransport Secretary Justine Greening (pictured) said she was not prepared to stand in the way of the 3p rise in fuel duty expected to come into effect in August.
• Jam-busting car that drives itself: Auto-pilot lets motorists relax in congestionThe motorist is then free to take his hands off the steering wheel and feet off the pedals while he enjoys some much-needed relaxation.

Birmingham Post

• New Street developers hark back to station's heritage for latest addition.New Street station developers have harked back to its 19th century heritage with the opening of new staff facilities at platform 1.
• Time to re-open old line to take advantage of freight boom claims Centro bossThe West Midlands should take advantage of the UK’s booming rail freight market by re-opening the Walsall to Stourbridge railway line, according to the regional transport authority.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Senior council chief says ‘more could be done’ to deliver UK’s best suburban railway A rail link to Leeds-Bradford Airport, electrification of the Caldervale Line and development of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, are among a list of “aspirations” a senior council figure wants taken forward up to 2026.

Journal Live

• Northumberland man reunited with locomotiveA MAN who drove a locomotive at a Northumberland colliery over 25 years ago has been reunited with it at a blossoming heritage railway.

Liverpool Echo

• Liverpool John Lennon Airport have plans to combat fuel shortage fears from Stanlow refineryLIVERPOOL John Lennon Airport bosses set up contingency plans to avert any potential disruption caused by a fuel shortage.

Liverpool Post

• Liverpool John Lennon Airport sees off fuel shortage fearsLIVERPOOL John Lennon Airport bosses set up contingency plans to avert any potential disruption caused by a fuel shortage.

London Evening Standard

• Gatwick boss lashes out at Heathrow's capacity complaints The boss of Gatwick today blasted a warning at his Heathrow counterpart, saying moans about London’s strangled aviation capacity are damaging Britain’s business prospects and his base was enjoying strong growth from emerging markets.
• Fuel duty rise 'should be scrapped'Labour is to try to pressure Chancellor George Osborne into scrapping a 3p rise in fuel duty due to take effect in August.
• Justine Greening: Let's end this 'pub debate' over airport expansionTransport Secretary Justine Greening has accused airline bosses of engaging in a œpub style� debate about airport expansion ” and said the Victorians would be better at planning airports.
• Flight-path residents fear ˜noise all day™ if runway rules are changedResidents living under the Heathrow flight path today condemned plans that could mean tens of thousands more planes at the airport each year.
• More bus strikes over drivers' Olympics bonuses Union leaders today warned that more bus strikes are "inevitable" unless a deal is struck over Olympic bonus payments
• Central Croydon trams set to arrive every five minutesThe number of trams running in Croydon will increase by 50 per cent from today.
• Minister in shock warning on more Heathrow runwaysThe battle over Heathrow intensified today as Transport Secretary Justine Greening warned that a third runway may not even be enough to meet Britain™s growing demands for air travel.

Manchester Evening News

• Manchester rail commuters the most miserable in the countryManchester's rail commuters are the most miserable in the country, a survey has revealed. The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT)  grilled travellers from 11 cities in England and Wales about how happy they were with train service affordability, overcrowding and punctuality.

Northern Echo

• Hitachi project 'definite' REPORTS claiming the number of carriages to be produced at Hitachi™s planned train-building factory in the region is being cut have been firmly rejected.

Wales Online

• Focus on regional airports, not the Heathrow hub, finds reportTHE UK Government should focus on developing regional airports rather than concentrating on a hub in the southeast of England, a report has claimed.

Crewe Chronicle

• UK & World News: Fuel duty rise 'should be scrapped'Labour is to try to pressure Chancellor George Osborne into scrapping a 3p rise in fuel duty due to take effect in August.

Sunderland Echo

• Born to be mild: Hundreds of bikers stage go-slow protest along A1FOUR hundred bikers staged a go-slow on the A1 in protest against a new European law.

Other Regional Press

• Transport group pushes for valleys rail electrification THE TRANSPORT group SEWTA (South East Wales Transport Alliance ) is again pressing the UK Government to invest in the rail electrification of South Wales by promoting the business case to include the Valley™s network.
• Elderly bus users ˜stuck at the stop™Bus operators have seen a deluge of complaints from angry elderly bus passengers who have no idea when their bus will come.

Global Rail News

• Making RRVs safeWrites Dr Liesel von Metz, HM Inspector of Railways at the Office of Rail Regulation The road-rail vehicle (RRV) has become a ubiquitous feature of engineering work on the modern railway. Coming in many different guises, the RRV is fundamentally a road vehicle to which rail wheels have somehow been attached to allow the vehicle [...]
• Glasgow Subway to receive £2.5 million faceliftGlasgow Subway’s underground tunnels are to receive a £2.5 million facelift as Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) announces the latest projects to modernise the network. The partnership has confirmed that contracts worth £1.3 million and £1.2 million have been awarded to contractors to refurbish a section of the tunnel and Partick station respectively. On Friday, [...]
• Commuters content in Cardiff but miserable in ManchesterCardiff has the happiest rail commuters while Manchester has the most miserable, according to an index published by Campaign for Better Transport this week. The transport charity looked at how train services in 11 cities around the UK performed on affordability, overcrowding and punctuality. Unlike existing passenger satisfaction surveys, which are based on individual train [...]
• Western Railway to invest in new ticket machines to cut queuesWestern Railway (WR) is planning to buy 490 extra automatic ticket validating machines (ATVMs) to reduce long queues at suburban stations. Speaking to Rail.co, a WR spokesman said: œWR has already increased the number of ATVMs from 115 to 171 in last two months. With 24 more ATVMs to be installed shortly, the total number [...]
• Rail Media team completes peaks challenge despite downpourRail Media fundraisers braved torrential rain to climb three mountains in less than 24 hours for charity. The four-man team summited Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis – the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales – as part of the Three Peaks by Rail challenge for Railway Children. Organisers described the weather as [...]
• ˜Badger™ hole causes train delayTrains were stopped between Hereford and Great Malvern after engineers were called to repair a ‘badger’ hole under the line. The driver of the 7.34am Hereford to Birmingham service spotted the hazard this morning and stopped the train. A Network Rail spokesman said clay substrate had sunk into an underground hole, which could have been [...]

Aviation Industry

• Gatwick benefits from passenger rise and new routes Sussex airport weathers the economic conditions as it adds flights to the Far East
• Heathrow™s third runway ˜must be considered™ by governmentAviation group calls for the government to end decades of ˜dithering™ and draw up long-term plan