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

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

BBC News

• Ilkeston railway station campaign gets government boost Plans to build a new railway station in a Derbyshire town have been given a boost by the government.
• Manchester's oldest Metrolink trams to be replaced All of Greater Manchester's oldest trams will be replaced with new vehicles by 2014 in a £64m investment, transport officials have announced.
• London 2012: Boris Johnson warns of transport problems The Mayor of London has admitted that "things will go wrong" with transport during the Olympics.
• Brecon Beacons electric cars Twizys powered by elements Tourists to Brecon Beacons National Park are being encouraged to hire electric cars to explore beauty spots.
• Fears of rail service cuts to Cornwall dismissed Concerns that rail services between Cornwall and London could be cut under a new franchise deal have been raised by the leader of Cornwall Council.
• London bought to standstill by Olympic lane taxi protest Hundreds of black cab taxis have brought the centre of London to a standstill today in a protest over Olympic traffic lanes.
• Government criticised as deaths on UK roads go up The government has been criticised for a lack of leadership after the first increase in road deaths for nearly a decade.
• Manchester trams to be replacedAll of Greater Manchester's oldest trams will be replaced with new vehicles by 2014, transport officials announce.

The Telegraph

• London 2012: more travel chaos as Tube fire alert disrupts rush hourCommuters struggled to get into London this morning as a fire alert left a major Tube line suspended while late finishing engineering work and a broken down train caused problems on the main lines.
• Cab drivers create gridlock in Games Lane protest200 taxi drivers bring central London to a halt in protest at Games lanes.

Daily Express

• Air capacity to double with new technologyTECHNOLOGY designed to improve the use of airspace is set to double capacity at airports within 15 years and provide a multi-billion pound fillip to the firms developing it.

Mail Online

• Passengers 'will foot the bill for £9bn rail revamp': Cameron boasts of 'biggest modernisation since the Victorian era'The investment programme will include the much-anticipated full electrification of the Midland Main Line from St Pancras in London to Sheffield.
• Airline catering firm that employs thousands in UK at centre of investigation into how NEEDLES were found in sandwiches on four flightsGate Gourmet, which provides meals for more than 20 airlines including all long-haul British Airways flights from Heathrow, distributed sandwiches that contained small sewing needles.
• Great diesel myth: They DON'T save you money and petrol models 'are more economical for most makes of car'A report by consumer magazine Which? has found that contrary to traditional perception diesel-fuelled cars are more expensive to run than petrol ones.

The Mirror

• Ceremony sliced: Opening Olympics event cut short due to fears it'd finish after public transport had endedDanny Boyle was furious when told the length of the ceremony had to be reduced in case guests got stuck after public transport ended

Network Rail

• WATERLOO STATION™S NEW 220m BALCONY OPENS TO REDUCE CONGESTION IN TIME FOR OLYMPIC GAMES

Bristol Live

• The Post published RISE IN DEATHS ON OUR ROADSArticle

Daily Post (North Wales)

• No cash for North Wales in £9bn rail investmentRAIL passengers in North Wales have missed out on a £9.4bn scheme to improve lines elsewhere across the UK, it emerged yesterday.

Journal Live

• North East councils' loan will fund Newcastle Airport dealCOUNCILS in the North East are being asked to lend tens of millions of pounds to the region’s biggest airport.
• Quicker East Coast Main Line rail journeys pledgedRAIL passengers are being promised faster journeys and more available seats in future after the Government pledged £240m for improvements along the East Coast Main Line.

London Evening Standard

• Huge queues at Kidbrooke junction as lights are re-phased, giving drivers '11 seconds to get across' Miles of traffic jams on the A2 coming into London from Kent again caused major delays today after Transport for London re-phased the traffic lights for the Olympics.
• Boris must do more to make roads safer, says family of dead cyclistThe family of a Tube worker killed as he cycled to work called on the Mayor today to do more to make London™s roads safer for riders.

Manchester Evening News

• Happy birthday Metrolink: Old trams axed as network turns 20Metrolink is celebrating its 20th birthday today “ with bosses revealing that the old blue and grey trams will be taken off the tracks within two years.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Electrifying railway will bring £195m into East MidlandsBUSINESS leaders across Notts have welcomed the £800 million investment in the Midland Main Line announced by the Government yesterday.
• Electrifying railway will bring £195m into East MidlandsBUSINESS leaders across Notts have welcomed the £800 million investment in the Midland Main Line announced by the Government yesterday.

Sheffield Star

• Plans to retain threatened bus serviceTRANSPORT officials are understood to be considering plans to save a threatened bus service – after a public outcry.

The York Press

• Delight at news of rail upgrade MILLIONS of commuters will benefit from the new investment in railways in York, Selby and North Yorkshire, it has been claimed.

Wales Online

• Sustainable transport – a clear path to the future? Peter Davies, Commissioner for Sustainable Futures, describes how new technology, public investment and a city region approach can help create a greener and more effective transport system
• Transport secretary Justine Greening gives her view on rail electrification Monday saw the announcement of the full electrification of the great Western line from Paddington to Swansea and lines in the South Wales Valleys and Vale of Glamorgan. Here Transport Secretary JUSTINE GREENING pays tribute to the Western Mail’s campaign for electrification and describes why the upgrade of the South Wales railways will prove a “game-changer”.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• Pledge on HS2 from David CameronA high speed rail line through Staffordshire is still necessary despite a £9.4 billion plan to upgrade existing tracks across the country, the Prime Minister has said.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Leeds rail services given a cash boost “ funded by fare hikeA major boost for Leeds rail commuters has been announced by the Government with a raft of measures to improve the quality and quantity of services – but it will be funded by inflation-busting fare rises.

Other Regional Press

• Key Gatwick advisory group to consider plans for Thameslink rail 'super-franchise' Plans for the new Thameslink rail ‘super-franchise’ will be among a raft of important issues going under the microscope at a meeting of key advisory group Gatwick Airport Consultative Committee (GATCOM) this Thursday (July 19).
• Metro Chairman welcomes proposed new rail investmentProposals could help ease overcrowding and unlock economic benefits in Yorkshire.
• Transport secretary ˜doesn™t know™ if Newport rail link will happen - MP A NEWPORT MP said transport secretary Justine Greening did not know the answer to a question on whether this week's announcement to electrify the Ebbw Valley line meant trains could run to Newport.
• New railway could be ready by 2017A MAJOR rail link which is set to bring jobs and investment to Bedford could be in place in just five years time.

Global Rail News

• Milton Keynes “ Home of Railway ValuesAt first glance the choice of Milton Keynes as the new headquarters of Network Rail seems eccentric. Look a little closer and the move is a sound one, as Andy Milne reports. Once derided as a concrete and plastic tribute to sixties designer angst, Milton Keynes has all the vibrancy and energy of a younger [...]
• Electrification plans ˜undermine™ HS2 business caseStop HS2 campaigners have said that electrification plans outlined by the government further undermine the business case for high-speed rail. Yesterday, David Cameron and Nick Clegg officially announced an additional £4.2 billion programme of investment in Britain’s rail network between 2014-2019. Projects will include electrifying lines between Bedford and Sheffield and Cardiff and Swansea. Stop [...]
• Panda-monium on the TubeOver 100 pandas – or sympathisers dressed as pandas – took to the London Underground on their way to a rally, startling passengers. The panda patrol was part of Panda Awareness Week. A panda posse performed a graceful tai-chi dance in Trafalgar Square before greeting passers by. Panda Awareness Week aims to raise interest and [...]
• Metal fatigue hits thievesMore legal powers and the success of Operation Tornado are making life tougher for cable thieves on the railway. Operation Tornado makes it easier to trace sellers of stolen metal through an identification scheme. Pioneered in the north east, Operation Tornado is being rolled out in the south of England this summer. In further developments [...]
• Transport leaders welcome Northern Hub investmentCompletion of the Northern Hub rail project will create 30,000 new jobs, say Greater Manchester’s transport leaders. Yesterday’s announcement of a £9 billion investment in the railways in the coming years follows commitments to elements of the Hub scheme and wider electrification projects, totalling £477m. The finished project will create the capacity for up to [...]
• Track Staff battle June MonsoonDespite torrential rain in the north on 28th June closing both the main lines and the Newcastle“ Carlisle line, track staff working flat out managed to restore services while drivers and train planners diverted Anglo-Scottish services over the Settle and Carlisleline. In Scotland the West Highland line was shut between Crianlarich and Fort William after [...]
• Metrolink to retire T68 by 2014Manchester Metrolink’s entire fleet of T68 trams is to be retired from service by 2014. The T68 has served Manchester’s tram passengers since the service first began operation in 1992. After gaining approval from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, an order for 20 new yellow and silver M5000s will now be placed with a consortium [...]
• Tube engineering works suspended for OlympicsLondon Underground is suspending all non-essential engineering works in an attempt to ease Olympic and Paralympic congestion. After this weekend, no planned works will take place until mid-September to reduce the risk of delays. Transport for London is predicting that more than one million extra passengers a day will use the capital’s public transport network [...]
• Wheels are turningDid you hear about the Christmas Eve train crash near Oxford? It occurred at Shipton-on-Cherwell to be exact. Thirty four people died and sixty nine were injured. You didn™t? Well, you do have an excuse, as it happened in 1874. It was the worst disaster to befall the Great Western Railway and the cause was [...]

Aviation Industry

• Ryanair confirms its intentions towards Aer LingusBudget airline reveals latest bid for rival
• Premium travel down, economy up again, says IATABusiness confidence still hitting premium sales

Green Miscellany

• Beat Games Lanes bicycle ban with pedal-powered hovercraft Cyclists forced off the roads by the prospect of £130 fines if caught in a Games Lane may like to turn to other pedal-powered options during the Olympics.read more

Other News Sources

• Crossrail support primary school readers Workers involved in the construction of the new Crossrail station in Paddington have given up their spare time to help pupils at a Bayswater school learn to read.
• Swansea and Valley rail lines to be electrified First Minister, Carwyn Jones and Transport Minister, Carl Sargeant, have welcomed the announcement by the Secretary of State for Transport that the Great Western Main Line to Swansea and the Valley Lines network will be electrified.
• RMT exposes details of secret LU plan to move deep tube lines to full driverless operation, close ticket offices and de-staff stationsA SHOCKING INTERNAL LU document, released by tube union RMT today, exposes a secret agenda to move the entire Jubilee Line to driverless operation within three years, trialed later this year - with the other deep level tube lines to follow - without even train captains on board, to run stations unstaffed and to close ticket offices the length of the line.
• RMT anti-rail cuts campaign steams in to Nick CleggTHE DAY after Nick Clegg and his coalition partners confirmed that they are to fund a series of long-delayed rail improvements through a combination of job cuts and fare increases, rail union RMT have announced that they will be taking a rail protest right to the heart of his Sheffield constituency this week.